


Stranded

by Dunloth



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Body Modification, Established Relationship, Forced Surgery, Kidnapping, Lost Ship, M/M, Naruto Sci-Fi Week 2019, Some canon characters as A.I.s, Space Pirates, Spaceships, Umino Iruka-centric, bionic implants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-02-08 03:37:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 19
Words: 26,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21469441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dunloth/pseuds/Dunloth
Summary: Umino Iruka's adventures in space after his ship breaks down. With space pirates, space ninja, Iruka having some hard times, and Kakashi trying to find him.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka
Comments: 94
Kudos: 124
Collections: Naruto Sci-fi Week 2019





	1. Eleven hours

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Naruto Sci-Fi week 2019.  
Prompt: Day 22: Lost Ship.  
Thanks so much to Tmo and BooleanWildcard for beta-reading!

Iruka’s hope died with the last pitiful sound coming from the air pump before it went definitely silent.

He glared for a while at the dead oxygen recycler like he could get it to work just by sheer will. He seriously considered venting his frustration by hitting the useless machine with his wrench until it was a metal blob, but it wasn’t worth the effort.

It all started two days before, with a bright white spark coming from the nearest star. The electromagnetic flare fried the comm system and other important ship parts. Iruka and the ship A.I. worked like crazy repairing everything that could be repaired. They pulled amazing tricks. But it wasn’t enough. 

The air recycler had just died for good. That was something Iruka could not go without for too long. 

When it became clear that there was nothing they could do to restore the life support system, Iruka decided not to get dramatic about it. His_ Ichiraku _ wasn’t the first ship to go astray and lose contact with the Hub. He wasn’t the first pilot to die stranded in space. Things like this happened all the time. But knowing it didn’t make him feel better.

So, Iruka now had a lot of time. Suddenly there was nothing for him to do, after two days of working frantically and with no sleep. 

“Shizune, how long till there’s too little oxygen?”

“About eleven hours. Sorry, Iruka.” Iruka knew the A.I. didn’t have the ability to feel sorry, but he appreciated her support anyway.

“Don’t be. It’s not your fault.”

⁂

Iruka went to his cabin and sat in front of his desktop. He got some old-fashioned paper—his friends would no longer mock him for writing the old way, he thought—and started writing something for Naruto.

He tried not to sound like he was going to die in eleven hours.

After rewriting his farewell note for the third time, Iruka decided to leave it as it was. No amount of rewriting was going to make it more helpful for Naruto. He was going to be alone again, and no affectionate written text could change that fact. At least he made sure that Naruto knew that he loved him and that he was sorry for leaving like this.

He folded the sheet neatly and put it inside an envelope. He wrote on it the words "For Uzumaki Naruto, planet Konoha, Fire system" and placed it inside the ship's black box with the other important documents. He hoped the ship would be found and Naruto would receive his letter.

Now that he finished writing Naruto’s note, his thoughts went to his other important person: Kakashi.

How would Kakashi take the news of his death? How much would it hurt him? Frankly, Iruka didn’t know. It wasn’t like they were in a relationship. It was more an on-and-off thing. They gravitated around each other, obviously attracted to the other, but they never managed to tie the knot for good. The sex was great, they trusted each other, and had good moments together. But their lives were so different that they never seemed to find common ground. Kakashi was an elite star-fleet officer, specialized in black-ops missions, and Iruka was a teacher in the fleet academy. The gap between their ways of living was too big.

Iruka felt that he would never be enough to get Kakashi’s full attention. It hurt, at the beginning, until he accepted it and moved on from the idea of Kakashi falling in love with him. That would never happen and Iruka was okay with it.

He hoped Kakashi wouldn’t mourn him for too long. But Iruka also hoped that Kakashi would remember him with affection.

Iruka sighed, feeling already a little dizzy because of the high CO₂ concentration in the air. He left his cabin with a last look and went back to the pilot room. He sealed the rest of the ship away and configured the system to send the remaining oxygen here. It was all he could do to make it last as long as possible.

He would spend his last hours listening to his favorite music, chatting with Shizune about irrelevant subjects, and trying to keep calm about his imminent fate.

⁂

“What will happen to you, Shizune? Will you hibernate, or something? How long can you wait? I guess it could be years until someone finds the ship.”

_ If they find it at all_, Iruka thought. But he wasn’t cruel enough to say it out loud.

“I’ll put all systems down to save energy. The help beacon uses very little power. It will remain active at least for several decades. I’m not sure if it will ever stop.”

_ But the beacon is useless if it can’t reach the comm net. Our connection to the Hub is lost. _ Only a ship passing within a couple clicks would receive the SOS. And they were outside the commercial routes. The probabilities of a ship getting the signal were too low to even estimate them.

“So, you’ll sleep and wait.”

“I can’t really sleep. I guess the simile would be more like being in a coma. But yes, basically, I’ll be out and waiting.”

“Do you regret being here with me?”

Shizune’s pleasant voice laughed.

“Stop trying to confuse me, Iruka. You know pretty well that I can’t experience those human emotions. Regret. Pity. Love.”

Iruka smiled sadly.

“Yeah. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry, Shizune. I’m sorry I dragged you into this situation.”

Shizune’s voice got softer, and somehow different than what Iruka knew from her.

“Iruka, I’ve come to be strangely attached to you. If I could feel, I’m sure I wouldn’t be feeling regret. I would be happy to be here with you in your last hours.”

Well. You can’t expect an A.I. to be tactful enough to avoid disturbing conversation subjects like imminent death. Either way, Iruka felt comforted by Shizune’s rare display of ‘attachment’. He felt like smiling again. Just a small smile.

“Are you really sure A.I.s can’t feel? That sounded to me like you’re starting to be emotive.”

“Stranger things have happened. We adapt and learn. Perhaps I’m evolving into Shizune 2.0. Who knows? After all, my intelligence is far above yours.”

“And you had to say it again. So humble, as always.”

“Anything for you, Iruka. You know.” Perhaps she couldn't feel, but she always seemed to like teasing Iruka. It felt reassuring.

Iruka felt more dizzy now. Breathing was getting difficult.

“I only regret leaving Naruto. I wish he wouldn’t have to mourn me so soon.”

Shizune didn’t answer to that. What could she possibly say anyway?

Iruka crossed his arms over the navigation console and rested his head on them.

“Shizune, I think I’ll sleep now.” His thought process was slow and dense. He couldn’t think of better goodbye words for Shizune.

_ So, this is it. Doesn’t feel so bad, after all. I guess there are worse ways to go. _

_ Naruto, Kakashi, I’m sorry. _

Iruka fell asleep slowly.


	2. There’s something wrong

An insistent knocking on the door awakened Kakashi. He reluctantly covered his face, got up, and went to the cabin door, dragging his feet. His sensor implant revealed the identity of his visitor. What could Naruto want at this ungodly hour? What time was it anyway? 

Well, more like mid afternoon. He’d overslept again. His last mission had been exhausting, as usual. At least he wasn’t injured this time and he didn’t damage his implants. But Naruto had better have a good reason to interrupt his much needed rest. 

“Stop knocking, Naruto, I’m coming.” He tiredly opened the door and was instantly on alert when he saw the distress in the boy’s face. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s Iruka-sensei. The _Ichiraku_ should have arrived two days ago. I went to the spaceport office four times and they always say the same thing: the ship has to be missing for five days before a search party is sent. I don’t know what else to do. Can you help me, Kakashi-sensei? There must be something we can do.”

“Calm down, Naruto. Come in. Let’s think of something.”

Kakashi motioned the restless boy inside his quarters. They sat on the small padded bench attached to the cabin wall. Kakashi’s cabin was really tiny and not very suitable for visitors.

Naruto went on with his worried rambling. 

“He’s never been late before. Something happened, I’m sure. He might need help. He might be in serious trouble, or injured, or…”

Kakashi raised his hands.

“Stop, stop, please. You say he’s two days late? Where was he flying from?”

“He was coming back from Sand system. He goes there every year for some kind of teacher’s conference.”

“Was he travelling alone?”

“Yes! Only him and Shizune, the A.I.”

Kakashi thought about it. It was strange, yes. Iruka was never late. 

“You checked the Hub messages from him, I guess?”

“Yes, I did, many times. There’s nothing.”

Naruto looked up at Kakashi. He was on the verge of tears.

“Kakashi-sensei, there’s something wrong. I know it. We can’t sit here doing nothing.”

Kakashi couldn’t stand the look in those pleading blue eyes.

“Go home and try to rest. I’ll take care of it.”

⁂

After Naruto left, Kakashi checked the Hub himself. No messages from Iruka to him either. No notices of ship incidents in the routes from Sand to Fire. But he knew Iruka, as many other skilled pilots, usually took shortcuts out of the more transited commercial routes. It was faster, but also more risky.

Damn it. Kakashi had a bad feeling too. It wasn't like Iruka to not send a notice to Naruto if he was delayed.

He activated his comm plugin and dived into the Hub looking for some trace of Iruka’s ship. He contacted a few star fleet colleagues that owed him favors, and asked for their help to locate the _Ichiraku_ or any information about it. 

He was not going to wait five days.

⁂

There it was. _Ichiraku’s_ last known location, near the Tea nebula. Not a good zone to be stranded. Too close to the Rim, and with unstable star formation zones. What was Iruka thinking to take a shortcut through that sector? He was probably in a hurry to get back to Naruto. He never liked to leave the kid alone for too long.

Kakashi checked the star fleet roster for pilots close to that zone and he was in luck. He started a call.

“Tenzou. I need a favor.”

“Nice to talk to you again too, senpai. What is it?”

“I see your squad is near Tea sector. Could you do a sweep on quadrant W-23-AHP? We’re looking for a lost ship. KON-BNY-2703-Ichiraku.”

“Iruka-sensei’s ship? Wait, I’ll check.” Yamato was away for a couple minutes. “Confirmed, scanning scheduled in two hours. I’ll send the results. Official, or personal?”

“Keep it off-the-records by now. It’s not related to the fleet.”

“Understood.” Yamato knew better than to ask for more information. Kakashi would let him know when they were out of the fleet channels. “Anything else I should know?”

“No. Thank you, Tenzou. I’ll keep in touch.”

Kakashi sent the End of Transmission token and prepared for a couple hours of tense waiting.

⁂

“Senpai. I don’t bring good news.”

Kakashi’s stomach clenched on hearing those words in Yamato’s serious voice. “What is it?”

“The scan found the _Ichiraku_. But there are no vital signals on it.”

“No. It can’t be.” Kakashi felt his heart start to race.

“We can’t send a scout team anytime soon. It’s out of our path and we can’t change course without direct orders. Either you get those orders from Tsunade-sama or you’ll have to come here yourself.”

“I’ll be there in…” Kakashi made a quick course calculation, “seven hours”.

“Understood. Don’t rush it, senpai.” 

_Like hell I’m not rushing it_, Kakashi thought fiercely and jumped from his seat to prepare his gear and his ship.


	3. Debris field

“Open your eyes,” a man’s voice was repeating.

Iruka came back slowly through cotton clouds to feel a dull pain in the back of his head and a strange pressure on his face.

“What…?” he managed to mumble, confused. Something was covering his mouth. His body felt strange, numb. His eyes didn’t want to fully open. There was too much light, raw and white and painful. He moved his face to the side and closed his eyes tight, trying to escape the harsh light.

“He’s coming back. You’re blinding him with your helmet lights, Yahiko,” a woman's voice said. Iruka didn’t know those voices. The light went down to the soft glow of a stand-by ship cabin.

“Who are you?” This time he managed to open his eyes and see the blurred images of someone in a space suit leaning over him.

Memories were slowly crawling through his confusion. Oh, yes. The oxygen generator. He should be dead. Was he dead?

“Am I dead?”

“No, you’re very much alive,” was the man’s cold response. “But you were close.”

Iruka tried to get up from the floor. The man pushed him back.

“No, it’s too soon for you to stand up. Lay down.”

“Okay,” he sighed and lied tensely still on the floor. A plastic oxygen mask was covering his mouth and nose. “Shizune?”

There was no answer.

“The A.I. is not starting up. They must have done something quite drastic to reach our comm system. You’ve been stranded for a few days.”

“Stay still. I’m going to run some health checks.” That was the woman. Iruka automatically obeyed her.

“Who are you?” he asked again.

“Silence,” she said while fastening a medic diagnostic strip to his forearm.

After a couple minutes checking the results on her med device, she spoke again.

“No brain damage. A bit dehydrated, but everything is okay.”

_Good to know_, Iruka thought. _And now we get to the interesting part, I guess._

“You can stand. Slowly. Careful with the oxygen tank.”

Iruka did that, clumsily, fighting his dizziness. He tried not to mess with the tube that connected his mask to the small oxygen bottle lying by his side. He didn’t feel quite okay, but this was definitely better than being dead. He hoped.

He looked at the strangers uneasily. Two people hidden inside unmarked space suits. He couldn’t see much of them. Their faces were obscured by their helmet visors. They were unarmed, but their body language made Iruka think of soldiers.

People with military training roaming the Rim systems were usually not good news. They were looters at best. Iruka tried not to think of the recent reports of slave traffickers they’d been hearing in the news. He tried not to sound nervous when he spoke again.

“Thank you for responding to our rescue call. What system are you transiting to?”

“That’s confidential,” the man called Yahiko replied. It didn’t do much to soothe Iruka’s nerves.

“Okay. The nearest system is Lightning. You could leave me at any nearby place, or anywhere with a Konoha delegation, really. As soon as I’m able to access the comm Hub from your ship, I can transfer the payment for my passage to any system you can take me to.”

Iruka internally swore at his rambling. He was trying to keep the illusion that this was going to be a civilized exchange, but his hopes weren’t high.

Yahiko just nodded and turned away. He walked towards the ship lock.

“Come with us. Take the tank with you,” the woman said dryly and followed his partner into the pressurized tube that connected their ships, not waiting to see if Iruka was following them.

Iruka stood there, furiously trying to think of something to do. Unfortunately, he didn’t have many options. He had to follow the strangers into their ship. He was dead if he stayed here.

Perhaps they were really only rescuing him.

_Who I’m trying to fool._ Iruka was an optimistic person, but he was also realistic. Life in the Rim was hard and people usually took advantage of the weak.

_At least they didn’t rape me when I was unconscious. I hope._

He sighed and headed for the strangers’ ship with a last look at his surroundings.

_Bye, Shizune. I hope this is not the end for you,_ was his last thought before leaving the _Ichiraku_, most probably forever.

⁂

Iruka didn’t remove his oxygen mask after entering the strangers’s ship. He waited for his two rescuers to remove their helmets first. When they did, they didn’t look as Iruka expected. They were young and didn’t look like space pirates at all. But anyway, how did space pirates look like? Iruka felt a bit silly for expecting something like what was shown in the movies.

These people looked only a few years older than Iruka, in their early or mid thirties. Yahiko was quite handsome with spiky orange hair. He had augmented eyes with concentric circles in different shades of blue-grey instead of the natural iris and sclera. The unnamed woman had lavender hair and amber eyes.

They both had several black metal piercings on their faces and ears. Iruka guessed they were part of their bionic augmentations. He wondered what functionality they would have, probably something useful in fights. They looked as serious and collected out of their space suits as they looked when hidden inside them.

The first thing that got Iruka’s attention when entering the strangers’ ship was how it was obviously not a civil merchant ship. Every piece of equipment, every crew member aboard, screamed _ military_ to anyone who had some experience with battle ships and their crews. 

The second thing was the small details that showed they weren’t really great on budget for the ship’s maintenance. Some wall panels needed to be repainted or replaced. Some pieces were missing screws, or had scrapes. He just hoped the main systems were correctly maintained, for his own safety.

Yahiko silently guided Iruka through several turns in the ship corridors. Iruka tried to memorize the way. They stopped by a plain door. Yahiko motioned Iruka into a small cabin.

“Eat something, get cleaned and rest for a while. You have eight hours.”

Iruka called him out when he was already turning to leave.

“I would like to connect to the comm Hub and let my family know I’m alive.”

He had to try. He hoped he could keep the guise of good will after that. But they were approaching the no-return point where it would be clear that this was not a rescue.

“Your finding has already been notified to the Hub. Transmissions are not possible right now. We are entering a debris field. We retracted the comm fingers.”

Well. That was a reasonable explanation, but also a convenient excuse. Iruka mentally sighed with despair. He nodded and kept his bitter expression to himself as Yahiko left and locked the door. Iruka confirmed that it couldn’t be opened from the inside, as he expected. More bad news.

He took a quick shower—it needed to be quick as a notice on the water tap stated a limit of five minutes for hot water, and Iruka hated cold showers. He dried himself with a ragged but clean towel. Some nondescript standard ship crew clothes were available on a cabin shelf. Iruka considered wearing his sweaty, crumpled clothes again, but decided to wear the clean clothes instead. He felt uncomfortable wearing clothes that were not his own ones, especially underwear. It was another small piece of himself he was forced to leave behind. It only added a bit to his general uneasiness.

He found bottled drinking water and a box of food bars on another shelf. He still felt a bit dizzy and had a pulsing headache, but he forced himself to eat anyway. He would need the energy if things got ugly. He managed to eat half the amount of food he would have normally eaten. When he couldn’t chew anymore of the bland ration bars he decided to try to sleep. He set the alarm panel to wake him up in seven hours.

He underestimated how tired and ragged he was. He fell deeply asleep the moment his head touched the pillow.

⁂

Iruka was starting to lose his patience. This felt more and more like an interrogation. Half an hour ago, after the expected eight hours in his cabin, someone knocked on Iruka’s door, unlocked it and asked Iruka to follow him to a meeting room. This new man didn’t look like military, for a change. He gave the feeling of every cargo ship crew member Iruka had met in the past. But Iruka kept his guard raised, just in case.

The room didn’t look like a meeting room at all. More like one of those interrogation rooms you saw in entertainment shows. Yahiko, the woman from before and a new man were waiting for him, sitting by a plastic table. The three of them wore black flight uniforms with small logos of red clouds on their sleeves. 

The other man looked older, but perhaps it was because he was emaciated. He had straight dark red hair that reminded Iruka of the Uzumaki people he knew back in Konoha—excluding Naruto with his sunshine yellow hair, of course. The man’s eyes had the same modification as Yahiko’s. 

Iruka sat by the opposite side to them. And the questions began.

“You’re a teacher. Do you have experience with preteens?” the woman asked.

Iruka refrained to ask how they knew. They didn’t bother to hide that they hacked his ship and stole his personal profile. He cringed, thinking about what else they must have stolen from his ship. He only hoped they didn’t damage Shizune’s data image in the process.

“I want to connect to the Hub and tell my family I’m okay. They must have sent a rescue team.”

“We told you, we already reported you.”

“And I am grateful for that. But I want to talk to my brother and tell him personally that I’m okay.” 

“You will be allowed, as soon as we leave the debris field.”

They were at a dead end. Iruka huffed, frustrated. He might as well stop feigning ignorance. If they only wanted to hurt him, they would have done it already. If they wanted to loot his ship, they probably already did, and the logical thing after that was to kill him to leave no clues. They wanted something else from him.

“You’re not going to let me go, will you? What do you want? Who are you?”

Yahiko and the woman looked at the man sitting between them.

_So, he’s the one in charge_, Iruka thought.

The man spoke with a deep voice.

“We are Akatsuki from planet Rain. My name is Nagato. This is Yahiko and Konan.”

_Finally, some piece of information_. Iruka never heard of planet Rain before. He nodded. “Umino Iruka, from planet Konoha. But I guess you already know.”

“Yes. We hacked your ship files. And we looted your ship equipment, the parts that were still working. We also saved your life. You’re lucky we tripped over your SOS signal.”

A bitter reminder that Iruka owed them his life. They were no longer playing the altruistic rescuer part.

“You asked what we want. We want you to come with us to planet Rain and stay there to teach our children.”

Iruka blinked. “Uh, that’s an interesting offer, but I have to refuse. I have my own teaching job going on in Konoha. I must return-”

Konan interrupted him.

“You don’t understand. It’s not an offer.”


	4. A new scar

The Akatsuki cruiser reached its destination and stayed orbiting Rain planet. 

Iruka got out of the shuttle that brought him to the planet surface. He looked around, taking in the desolate dark landscape in the rainy night. The landing pad was close to a wretched village with a few dozens of shabby houses, poorly lit by not enough streetlamps. 

_ What a gloomy place, _ Iruka thought. Perhaps it would look better on a sunny day, but Iruka doubted it. He guessed the village would still be mostly grey and sullen even in the sun. 

The little he could see of the village surroundings in the moonless night was desolate too. A few small trees with no leaves, some scarce bushes. If the actual weather was true to the name of the planet then the ground would probably be too damp to have the kind of forests they had in Konoha.

A pointy energy rifle punched Iruka’s ribs. “Move!” Iruka glared at the guard that had just barked at him, but started walking, trying not to trip over the shackles on his feet. 

_ So much for advanced technology, _ he thought for the umpteenth time. His metal shackles looked like something taken from a historical movie. They were effective, he had to concede. He could barely walk on them. Running was out of all question.

His captors had abandoned their good manners a couple days ago, after his first escape attempt aboard the cruiser. Iruka managed to pick the lock on his cabin door and squeeze into one of the ship’s emergency evacuation pods. Unluckily for him, the ship A.I. ignored his request for pod ejection and reported him instead. Two minutes later three guards were taking him to his cabin and locking him inside again.

They were less gentle after his second escape attempt. They caught him on the way to the ship docking hangar. This time he got several punches and a split lip, courtesy of a bulky guard with a brush cut that seemed to dislike Iruka more than the others for some reason.

The third attempt sent him to the ship’s sick bay with a concussion and a broken rib. When he was sent back to his cabin after being healed they put him in handcuffs.

_ At least they healed my split lip too, _ Iruka thought. 

That was Iruka’s last escape attempt. He was too weary to keep trying. He would find a way to escape after they arrived at their destination in planet Rain. Wherever that was.

⁂

So, this was finally where Rain planet was. In the butt of the galaxy, seemingly. As Iruka stumbled through the puddles he studied his surroundings, looking for information that could help him flee from this place. 

He guessed they were taking him to some housing building with locks in the doors too. And they must have planned for him to arrive at night, to avoid the general population to see him shackled and taken there against his will. He didn’t see a living soul on his trip through the unpaved village streets.

Did it really matter? Perhaps those people were used to seeing other people forced to work against their will. 

Perhaps the teaching job story was a lie. Perhaps they had some terrible fate reserved for him.

_ Iruka, you have too much imagination. You must control it. _ Iruka’s memory brought those words from his past, in the gravelly, warm voice of Sandaime. He always had problems following this specific piece of advice from his old mentor.

_ Maa, sensei. So much imagination. I like that. _ And now it was the memory of Kakashi’s playful voice, from one of their first times getting intimate. 

Suddenly the memory of Kakashi’s warm touch was a little too much. Iruka felt a pang of homesickness. This wasn’t helping him in his current situation. He tried to focus in his surroundings.

The trip was not too long. They brought him to a two-story house with more guards inside, and escorted him into a bedroom in the upper floor. The guard pushed him inside the room and locked the door.

Iruka sighed. This room unsurprisingly was poorly furnished, and it didn’t have too much technology. At least he had a small bathroom with a shower and a toilet. Probably those were a luxury here, considering the little he had seen of this planet. The furniture included a closet with more uniform-like clothes and simple underwear, bed linen, towels, some spartan toiletry. 

Everything was acceptably clean, but a little damp. Iruka had always liked rain, but he was starting to change his mind.

⁂

The sound of the door being unlocked startled Iruka in the middle of his room inspection. There were several guards by his door. He had a bad feeling.

“Come with us,” one of them ordered. Iruka saw his old friend brush-cut was there, smiling. It was a very ugly smile.

Iruka stood still. The guards entered the room, two of them grabbed him. He tried to resist but he was too weak after the last days, he was shackled and bound, and there were four of them. It was a lost fight from the beginning. But he fought anyway.

“Don’t hit him on the head,” said the one that spoke first. It seemed he was the one in charge for whatever nasty thing they had planned to do to Iruka.

He kept struggling while they dragged him to another room on the same floor. It looked like an infirmary. Iruka felt sick when he smelt the disinfectant. He glimpsed a tray holding some surgical tools, looking ready to be used. A woman with med-nin clothes and a mask stood by a stretcher with attached restraints for hands and feet, holding a jet injector.

Iruka fought his panic. His heart rate spiked to the sky. “What are you going to do to me?”

No one answered him.

“Hold him still,” the woman said, avoiding to look at Iruka’s face. Brush-cut locked his bulky forearm around Iruka’s neck. Iruka was fighting frantically now. He tried to kick, punch and escape the hands that were grabbing him, but they were too many. He started to feel dizzy because of the arm strangling him. He went limp, almost unconscious, and the med nin took the opportunity to inject him whatever it was inside the injector.

He went unconscious for good.

⁂

Iruka woke up from a bad dream, and the first thing he felt was the pungent disinfectant smell. 

So, not a bad dream. This was just his awful reality.

He felt light-headed, his limbs were numb, and he felt a strange taste in his mouth. Probably it was the after effect of the anesthetic.

He tried to rub his face but something stopped his arm. Oh, yes. The stretcher restraints.

With his limited range of movement, all he was able to do was raising his head, his neck shaking with the effort, and trying to take a look at what he could see of his body, lying on the stretcher. 

He saw that he was shirtless. There was a small square patch of gauze on his left pectoral, over his heart.

Shit. What did they do to him?

“You’re awake. Good. Stay still.”

It was the med-nin. She came close and started running some diagnostics on him. 

He glared at her. “What did you do to me?”

“I’m not allowed to talk to you.” 

She sounded stern but vaguely apologetic. Iruka wanted to scream at her, to jump at her and squeeze her throat until she spit her guts. He felt all the frustration, anger and fear of the last days run over him. He started shaking with rage.

“Calm down. It’s not good for you to get this excited right after the intervention.”

“What intervention? What did you do to me?” Iruka was screaming now, and trying to tear off his restraints.The med-nin looked shocked, and hesitant about what to do.

In his agitation, Iruka managed to kick the surgical tray and send all the instruments cluttering to the floor.

The door opened and two guards came in, alerted by the shouting and the commotion. They got onto Iruka, trying to stop him. 

“Knock him off!” the boss shouted. The med-nin went out of her stupor. She got another injector and shot Iruka again.

“No!” Iruka snarled. His voice broke into a frustration sob, before he went limp again.

⁂

The next time Iruka woke up he was in his bed, in his new bedroom. The restraints were gone, but he couldn’t move too much anyway. He felt like a surface car ran over him. His head throbbed, his chest ached. 

They had dressed him into pajama pants, but he was still shirtless. He gingerly touched the gauze patch on his chest.  _ Ouch. _ Better not touching too much. 

He peeled off carefully the tape in one of the corners of the patch, and took a glimpse of the wound underneath. There was a tiny cut, about a quarter of an inch. It didn’t look too menacing. But Iruka felt the incision went deep inside his chest. There was something very wrong about it.

At the second attempt he managed to stand on his feet. He moved to the bathroom, relieved himself and washed his face.

He leaned on the sink and looked at his reflection in the small mirror. He had lost his hair tie in one of his skirmishes. His long hair was hanging loose, tangled and dull. His face was haggard and paler than usual, so that the scar on his nose looked darker. A new scar decorated his lower lip. There were dark circles under his eyes, and he had a dark stubble from several days. They wouldn’t let him near a razor. And the standard energy facial hair removers were probably too expensive for this hell pit of a planet.

_ I’ve been missing my beauty sleep lately, _ Iruka thought, bitterly.

He wobbled out of the bathroom and sat on his bed. He rubbed his face and sighed. His situation was bad. Very bad. He wasn’t getting out of here anytime soon.

He laid down on the bed covers on his right side, trying to find a position where the disturbing wound on his heart didn’t sting. He shrunk into a fetal position, and tried to go back to sleep.


	5. A tiny spark of hope

There were few private ships faster than Kakashi’s _Hound._ It was a former star fleet fighter, with Faster-Than-Light capability. When Kakashi left the special ANBU unit some years ago they allowed him to buy the fighter and adapt it for civilian use. Well, as civilian as Kakashi’s side activities got. That is, not much. The ship was going to be dismantled anyway. It was too tuned to Kakashi’s navigation implants, and could not be used by any other pilot. 

And the ship’s A.I. was almost family, at this point. Kakashi wouldn’t have left Rin behind. That, and she was currently the only system with enough knowledge to heal and repair Kakashi’s body and bionic augmentations. She’d been doing it since he was a kid.

So it was less than six hours later than the _Hound_ got to the coordinates sent by Yamato.

“Contact, Kakashi. We have a visual for the _ Ichiraku,_” Rin said.

“What about the vitals?” Kakashi asked, with a knot in his throat. This was the answer he was dreading. He waited while Rin completed the scan.

“No vital signals aboard. The ship is on stand by. Life support is not operating. I can’t contact Shizune.”

Kakashi tried to keep calm. He had to see it with his own eyes.

“Get closer. I’m boarding it.”

“Are you sure you want to get in there? I can send a drone,” Rin offered, with a subdued voice.

“No. I have to see him.”

Kakashi adjusted his space suit, getting ready for a space walk. It was faster than air-locking both ships. Getting mentally ready for what he would find inside the stranded ship was a different thing.

“Wait, Kakashi. There’s something wrong. I sense… Wait.”

“What do you mean, wrong? Explain.” Kakashi wasn’t in the mood for delays nor riddles.

“I think this ship has been despoiled. There is some equipment missing.” Rin derived more processing power to his analysis of the data sent by the _Hound’s_ sensors. "Yes, the air lock has been forced from the outside. And there are remains of another ship’s engine emissions. A big one. Light cruiser, or bigger.”

_ Someone’s been here before us. _The news shocked Kakashi to the core. He had mixed feelings: He couldn’t avoid a tiny spark of hope. Any prospect was better than finding Iruka dead inside that ship. But if some Rim marauders had been here…

“I’m boarding. Send two drones with me.”

“Copy. Activating Uuhei and Guruko. Be careful, Kakashi. They might have left traps that I can’t detect.”

“I’ll be.” Kakashi activated his combat implants, and headed to the airlock, flanked by the two drones, his left eye shining with a ruby red hue.

⁂

The ship was empty. No Iruka in there, dead or otherwise. No signs of fight, either. That was good. Better than his initial prospect.

“The oxygen levels are insufficient. Don’t remove your helmet,” Rin said in Kakashi’s comm channel. 

Kakashi floated swiftly along the ship corridors, heading for the control room while the drones checked the rest of the silent ship. He entered the emergency code in the dead control panel. _ Ichiraku’_s main systems buzzed back to life. 

“Shizune, what happened?”

“Kakashi! They took Iruka. Two people came into the ship. We were out of oxygen, Iruka was about to die. They took him away. I’m sorry I couldn’t do anything to stop them. He would have died here.“

Shizune sounded as worried as a A.I. could possibly sound.

“Give us their descriptions. Rin, take all the sensor data Shizune can pass you. We need to identify the ship. Try to project its route from its jump away from here. We have to find them.”

“Copy,” Shizune said, and went silent while she worked with Rin at their inhuman data processing speed. Kakashi checked the visual information in the ship console. 

After several hours of intense work and Hub searching they had a clue. The name of the cruiser was _ Angel of Dawn. _It seemed to be involved in several illegal activities along this sector of the Rim.

Kakashi clenched his fists. _ Damn, Iruka. I should have been faster. _


	6. Minimum intensity

After another long day of work, Iruka was escorted back to his room—he still refused to call it his cell, trying not to be too negative.

Today’s assigned guard was brush-cut. Kisame, was his name. He still bullied Iruka at every possible occasion, but some days had passed since the last time he’d managed to draw blood from Iruka. Iruka later overheard other guards’ gossip about the boss punishing Kisame for being too violent with him; Kisame had to do the daily cleaning of the barracks latrines for a whole week.

Iruka was sure he’d won an enemy for life, but after the last incident that goon was less brutal with him—at least in public. Iruka still was careful not to get alone with him.

A bento tray filled with his homely dinner was waiting on his battered room desk, as every other day since he’d started working at the village school about three weeks ago. Iruka forced himself to sit and eat dinner, though he wasn’t really hungry.

Iruka’s suspicions that he was losing weight had been confirmed by his last check up with Oyone, the resident surgeon, the same medic that put the cursed implant in him. After these few weeks in Rain, Iruka had to change his not-so-shiny first impressions of Oyone. She seemed to care for her patients, not enjoying at all the more forceful facets of her work. The kids in Iruka’s class were fond of her. Iruka trusted their judgments of people more than the adults’; one of those children, a sweet shy girl with bouncy pigtails named Yuuna, was Oyone’s daughter.

That didn’t erase the chills that run through Iruka’s spine every time he saw Oyone for a check-up. She was the protagonist of one of Iruka’s worst experiences, and that was difficult to mend—even if he trusted her as a medic and a mother now.

So Oyone’s weighing sensor revealed Iruka was definitely losing weight, even if the food was quite acceptable. He tried to eat everything they gave him, to keep his strength and his mood from collapsing, but it was difficult to keep motivated in his circumstances.

It didn’t help knowing that the food he didn’t manage to finish eating because his stomach just refused to admit it would be the delight of many of his students. The kids didn’t eat enough. Their parents ate even less.

Iruka had tried to take some of his food to the school to distribute it among his students, but he received a painful warning about it. He tried to do it another couple times, with the same result. He gave up after that.

Iruka finished his meal and slumped onto his bed, trying not to get overwhelmed by the bitterness he felt, thinking how that was not the only way he gave up.

The Akatsuki leaders had bent him to their will.

The day after he got his implant two guards took him to a dimly lit meeting room with a big comm hologram. The machine lights came to life, and Yahiko’s figure filled the holo space, his face stern.

The first part of their conversation went on mostly as a monologue by Yahiko’s side, consisting on a long list of instructions for Iruka. It all could be more or less summed up in that he had to teach the village kids a program similar to what he taught his cadets in Konoha’s star fleet academy. A varied curriculum consisting of general education and some military training on basic use of weapons and hand-to-hand combat. He would start the next day.

Iruka felt his patience running short while he listened to Yahiko’s demands.

“Everything clear? Any doubt about what is expected from you?”

Iruka managed to keep his anger under control when he spoke.

“I refuse to follow your orders. Bring me back to Konoha or there will be consequences. The fleet must be looking for me.”

Yahiko raised a hand and made a sign with his index and middle fingers extended up in front of his face, like he was blessing Iruka. He whispered a word in a strange language, and his artificial eyes glowed for a second.

A sudden spike of pain pierced Iruka’s chest and took his breath away. He fell to his knees, his face twisted in a grimace.

“You don’t have the choice to refuse anything. You’ll do as you’re told, or you’ll die. This was a first warning. I hope you won’t need a second one.” Yahiko’s voice was cold and calm, as usual.

Iruka was shaking, still kneeling on the floor, catching his breath. He rubbed a hand over his heart, trying to soothe the remains of the sharp pain.

“That’s what the implant was for. To put me on a leash,” he muttered through clenched teeth. He glared at Yahiko.

“Pain is more effective than any chain. This was the minimum intensity. We can punish you at any time. Remember it.”

Iruka snarled, frustrated.

“The device will kill you if you leave the range of Akatsuki’s planetary beacons. I hope you stop trying to escape. You’ll never leave this planet alive.”

Yahiko sent him a last emotionless stare, before his image flickered and vanished. The guards entered the room, lifted Iruka from the floor harshly, and escorted him back to his room.

Iruka was starting to agree with Yahiko, he would never leave the planet alive. He was learning his lessons slowly. Every time he went against the rules, he received a punishment from his implant that made him gasp and collapse on the floor, and sometimes pass out from the pain.

_ If this is the minimum intensity, I hope I never find out about the upper levels. _ Iruka didn’t think he would survive them.

At least the punishment never happened yet in front of his students. They seemed traumatized enough, to have something like this added to their fears.

The kids were the only ray of light in Iruka’s grim situation. Lying on his bed, absent-mindedly scratching at his implant scar—a nervous habit he had developed lately—, Iruka smiled when thinking of the children in his class.

He remembered when he first saw their little faces when he was presented as their new teacher: how fast their wariness was replaced by curiosity, how they bombarded him with questions, how by the end of the first day they seemed to have accepted him. He was amazed that he had gained their trust and respect in the following days.

They were really nice kids. He couldn’t help thinking how they probably were so well-behaved and disciplined because their previous education had been stern and limited. Life had been quite harsh to them, and they hadn’t been allowed to be boisterous and bratty.

They were not so different from his students back in Konoha. Kids everywhere had the same shenanigans, and were equally infuriating and lovely to him. How was Iruka supposed not to become fond of them? These kids had a rough life. They deserved better than they had.

No matter how hard Iruka was trying to fight his captors, this was a different thing. As these kids’ teacher, Iruka would do his best to do a good job and make their lives a little better, for as long as he was here with them. He would not make the children pay for Akatsuki’s wrongdoings.

Iruka sighed. He felt torn between keeping his hopes to go back to Konoha, and feeling responsible for Rain kids’ education. _ It’s not like I have to choose right now. I’m not leaving anytime soon. I’ll stay here and do my best with these kids. _

Iruka fell asleep with the bitter feeling of leaving a piece of his hopes behind.

⁂

_ So, this is where you are, Iruka. _

Kakashi looked at the planetary system holo floating over the _ Hound’s _ navigation console, his strategic mind sparkling with calculations of possible attack paths and infiltration routes, trying to find a feasible one. Rain planet stood amongst its smaller companions, a grey-blue cloudy jewel in the binary star system. Two perpendicular belts of blockade beacons surrounded it like the beads on a deadly necklace, slowly spinning around the planet, closing it to any unwelcome visit from the outside. A space ship trying to pass through them would be detected and destroyed immediately. 

“Do you still intend to sneak in?” Yamato sounded worried from his remote connection on the star fleet ship at the other side of the galactic sector. He couldn’t leave his post, but he offered to help anyway, at least with the infiltration plan.

“I have to find a way. There has to be one.”

“Those belts look impenetrable.”

_ Yes, they do. Shit. _Kakashi didn’t answer.

“There are no gaps, Kakashi.” Rin’s soft voice confirmed Kakashi’s conclusion. “A small unmanned ship might have a chance. Perhaps we can send in a drone. But no real ship could get through the belts undetected.”

Kakashi made up his mind.

“Then I guess we’ll let them detect us.”

Yamato rolled his eyes when he saw Kakashi’s half-side smile. “Senpai. Tell me this is not another one of your crazy plans.”

“Maa, Tenzou. Do you want the nice version or the realistic one?”

"Whatever, you got me dragged into this already. Let's go through the details."

They spent the next hours giving form to those crazy plans with Shizune and Rin.


	7. This I promise

Iruka walked back from the school to his cell-room. It was raining, as it had been for most of the time since he got to Rain village._ I wonder how this village would look in the sun, _ he thought tiredly.

After the first week, they allowed him to commute from his room to his daily teaching work in the school building and back by himself, with no guards escorting him.

_ It’s not like I have anywhere to escape to. _

Each day he took his time to go back to his locked room. Even in this depressing weather, he tried to make the most of the little time he was allowed to be outside. It was one of the few moments when he could feel a little free. His captors seemed to be okay with allowing him this little luxury, as if they knew how much he needed it to keep going.

Being outside in the mostly empty streets made him think of how different this place was from Konoha, and how much he missed his home planet. He missed the blue skies and white spongy clouds in Konoha. He missed the feeling of the warmth of the sun on his skin, the sound of the breeze playing with the branches in the tall trees, the leaves falling around. He missed the smells of the food posts and restaurants around the village at this time of the day, when the villagers were cooking dinner. He missed the sounds of busy happy people, of kids in the street and noisy civilians living their lives around.

All of this was missing in this sad village. People were not happy here. Kids didn’t play in the street. There were no restaurants, only a few poorly stocked stores. Life was tough in Rain village.

_ You would have a hard time to find a nice comfy tree suitable for your Icha-Icha reading naps here, Kakashi,_ Iruka thought with a pang of longing.

A soft high-pitched bark took him out of his gloomy musings and made him turn his head to an alley to his left.

A white and brown dog puppy with long floppy ears was looking at him from the corner of the alley, wiggling its tail. It barked again.

Iruka approached the stray dog and crouched by its side, smiling. With slow movements he let the dog sniff his hand and was about to scratch his head when the dog talked to him.

“Iruka-sensei! Come with me, hurry!” The pup said with a synthetic voice in a low volume that only Iruka could hear.

Iruka almost dropped his umbrella and fell on his butt.

The dog started running away into the shadowy alley, without looking back.

For a second Iruka resisted the impulse to go after the puppy—but his curiosity got the upper hand over his wariness. There was something familiar in that little dog. He thought he had heard that voice before.

He started jogging after the dog.

After a while, they reached the outskirts of the village. The dog ran behind a crop of thorny bushes, big enough to hide them both, and stopped there. Iruka crouched again by his side.

“What does this mean? Who sent you?”

The dog image trembled with the distinctive flicker of a dissolving hologram, and revealed the form of a small plasti-metal space drone silently hovering over the ground. A neat henohenomoheji logo was engraved on its side. The ID on the plate on its other side read KON-HOUND-DR08.

“Bisuke!” Iruka blurted out. “How are you here? Oh, God, is Kakashi here? How did you find me? How—”

“Please, stop, Iruka sensei. Time is limited. I have to deliver a message from the boss. After that I’ll try to reply to your questions. Do you consent?”

Iruka nodded, his hands trembling. “Yes, I consent.”

The drone projected another hologram in front of his face, this one a standard comm hologram. Kakashi’s serious unmasked face started to speak. Iruka almost sobbed.

“Iruka, I’m sorry for taking so long to get to you. I hope you’re okay. I tried to pass through the orbital patrols but they are tougher than I expected. It will take me some time to get to you. But I will.” Kakashi’s jaws clenched for a moment. “This I promise. I will get you out of there. Stay safe, Iruka. Stay alive.”

The holo ended with a small end-of-message sound. Oh, how much Iruka had missed this face, this voice. He blinked away his unshed tears of joy.

Bisuke opened the lid on his flank to reveal a container with a square flat electronic device inside.

“Take this tablet, Iruka-sensei. We can’t give you a connected one, Akatsuki would detect the signal. I will bury a real comm transmitter out of the village, far enough that it can reach the Hub without being detected. Your tablet’s signal can reach the transmitter, but it’s low enough to pass undetected. It’s text only, no image. It should be enough to exchange short communications. Please, hide it well, and check it everyday for the boss’s instructions for the moment we can come to take you away. Use it too to send us an alert, but only if you have an emergency. There’s a risk that they detect your emissions.”

_ And what would be the use of letting you know if I have an emergency? _ Iruka though, without saying anything.

“Bisuke, I can’t leave.”

“I don’t understand. Please, explain,” the little drone twisted his head a bit to the side, confused, reminding Iruka of a real dog pup.

“Can you record a message for Kakashi now?”

“Yes, I have storage space for a holomessage of about two minutes.”

“Two minutes should be enough.” Iruka drove his hand over his loose hair, trying to look more composed, more healthy. He would not be able to hide the dark circles under his eyes, or the new thinness of his face. _ At least they gave me an electric shaver last week, _ he thought, with a little relief. He took a deep breath.

“Please, start recording.”

⁂

Kakashi rushed to the ship console to get Bisuke’s incoming call.

“Bisuke, Report. Did you see him? Is he okay?”

“Yes, boss, I contacted him. He is alive and seems to be well.”

Kakashi felt like a heavy weight had been lifted from him. He breathed deeply, thanking every unexisting god in the unexisting heavens.

“That’s good to hear, Bisuke. That’s great. Did you give him the thing?”

“Yes, boss. He acknowledged the instructions. He asked me to record a holo with details of his situation that might be important for our action plan. Do you want to see it now?”

Kakashi fought the impulse to see Iruka’s face again. “Wait until you’re aboard.” He didn’t want to risk the enemy sniffing their comms.

“Copy, boss. I’ll be back in seventy two minutes, estimated time.”

“Right, Bisuke. Good work.”

Something was not right. Bisuke knew better than to talk about sensitive details until he was aboard, but the way he mentioned those ‘important details of his situation’ made Kakashi uneasy. There was something else there.

He wouldn’t rest until he watched Iruka’s message. Those seventy two minutes were going to be very long.

⁂

Iruka’s face and chest filled the holo space in the _Hound’s_ control room. Kakashi’s heart skipped a beat. Iruka looked tired, haggard, but he was alive, and smiling that soft smile he reserved only for Kakashi.

“Kakashi. You found me. God, you found me. I didn’t expect it. I thought everyone would leave me for dead. It broke me to do that to Naruto. Please tell him that I’m okay, will you? Even if I can’t go back with him.”

Iruka’s expression lost the smile.

“We don’t have much time. Bisuke told me you plan to take me away from here. Please, don’t. I can’t leave this planet.” Looking regretful, Iruka unzipped his jumpsuit to his lower sternum and uncovered his chest to show the small angry red scar. “This implant will kill me if I leave the range of Rain planet’s beacons.”

Kakashi looked appalled by Iruka’s reveal. His hand moved to his chest, over the same place where the deceptively small mark was over Iruka’s heart.

Kakashi knew about forced implants like this one. They always had safeguard triggers that killed the host when tampered with, but there had to be a way to remove Iruka’s implant.

“I know what you’re thinking. We can try to remove it, yes. We have Shizune and Rin. But I don’t think I would survive the attempt.” Iruka smiled again. “I know your genius mind must be working to find a solution. I hope you manage to figure out a good one, but by now trying to escape the planet is useless.”

Iruka sighed, resigned.

“Even if I don’t make it away from here in one piece, this is bigger than me.” Iruka looked at Kakashi with a stern expression. “I’m asking you this as a favor, Kakashi. Tell Tsunade-sama about the Rain people. She would probably agree to offer them Konoha’s support. Konoha’s assessors should be sent here to negotiate an alliance. I feel these can be good people to bring to our side. They've been abused and laid aside by the great nation systems for so long that they looked for their own way to survive. And they have sharp teeth. They can be valuable allies to Konoha if we win them.”

Bisuke’s timer alarm beeped. Its muted voice sounded in the background of the recording. “Fifteen seconds left, sensei.”

Iruka looked nervously to the camera, and nodded. He made a small pause, touching the scar on his nose. Kakashi figured he was struggling to order his thoughts and decide which one of the many things he surely wanted to say was the most important to fill those few available seconds.

“Tell Naruto I’m okay and I think of him. Tell him not to get in trouble. Stay safe, you two.” Iruka blushed, and the image dissolved, leaving Kakashi alone again.


	8. There might be someone else

Yahiko sat in the dark comms room, looking at the dim light of the holo that was playing some excerpts from Iruka’s classes from last week. It showed images of the children paying attention to Iruka’s lessons, doing kunai throwing practice, finishing assignments. They were working hard, but they also seemed to be at ease with Iruka.

“It’s been some time since there were laughs in that classroom. I like it,” Konan said as she entered the room. She stood behind Yahiko to look at the holo with him, her hands on his shoulders.

“I’m not sure it’s a good thing. They are getting too attached to their teacher.”

“Yes, they are.”

“They are going to be disappointed when he stops teaching them.”

“That was expected. We wanted them to get motivated, didn’t we? Affection and positive reinforcement are the best motivators for kids.”

“Umino Iruka is a good teacher. He seems to care for the children, too.”

“Are you too getting attached to him?”

Yahiko turned his head to look up at Konan’s serious eyes. Was she mocking him? That would be unusual.

“I’m not. You know I lost the ability to empathize when Nagato brought me back into this body.”

Konan looked at Yahiko with a sad smile, and ran her fingers softly through his orange hair spikes, lost for a fleeting moment in her memories from a past long gone. “I know. I just thought I saw a spark of the old you underneath this bone dry shell. I must have been imagining things.”

“Yes, you must have.”

Yahiko turned his synthetic gaze to the holo again. They watched it in silence, taking in the fake normalcy of those school days.

“You are being harsh with him.”

“I’ll stop being harsh when he stops resisting our orders. He has to learn to do what he’s told.”

“He won’t learn if he’s dead. Oyone told me the last punishment from the leash implant caused him a heart failure. She had to use the defibrillator function to bring him back.”

Yahiko didn’t answer her.

“You’re not this cruel with other people. What’s there in that teacher that angers you so much?”

He pondered over his response.

“I don’t know. I’m not supposed to feel emotions anymore. But this person stirs something inside me.”

Konan put her arms around Yahiko’s neck and slid a hand over his still heart.

"Perhaps he reminds you of our old sensei and how he left us to our fate in the unforgiving universe.”

“Perhaps.”

Yahiko closed his eyes and let Konan hug him, sitting still.

⁂

"Senpai, this is madness."

"You're grumpy because you can't come. You'll miss all the fun." Kakashi was adjusting his assault jumpsuit and tuning his equipment. His sharingan spinned through the recalibration tests. The result was successful, as always.

Yamato's hologram changed his weight from one foot to the other, restless.

"This is not fun, it's suicide. There are too many variables in this, even for you. This is too big for a one-man team."

"One man, two A.I.s and eight drones."

"Whatever. You need someone else to cover you in case your initial plan fails."

Kakashi stopped fastening his jumpsuit and looked at Yamato. The jibing tone left his voice. "I know, but there's no time for bringing anyone in. You can't leave your post, and there's no one else."

Yamato looked sheepish suddenly. "Well. There might be someone else."

He turned his head to the left. Another person appeared in the holo and waved, with a wide grin. "Hey, Kakashi. Long time no see."

"Sorry, senpai, I told her. I'm not going to let you go and die in this damned blockade."

Kakashi took a couple seconds to get over his shock. "Yo, Anko. What did he do to drag you into this?"

"Ah, nothing weird, I promise. I just saw Yamato sulking in the corners and tortured him until he spilled the beans."

Kakashi considered his options. They had gone through his infiltration plan once and again, and it wasn't as solid as he would want. To be honest, if this was one of his normal missions he would reject it. Too risky.

But this wasn't one of his normal missions. This was about Iruka. Kakashi had to get him out of that hell. Every day that Iruka remained in Rain weighed on Kakashi's soul.

Yamato was right. This plan required at least another person. He needed Anko with him.

"It's going to be tough, Anko. If this was an official mission it would be S-rank. Are you sure you want to join? I can't guarantee your safety."

"Stop it, Kakashi. I made up my mind. I'm in. You're not the only one who cares for Iruka."

Kakashi didn't try to deny it. He made a final pause and nodded. "Then get your gear and get ready. Rin will go through the adjusted mission plan with you on your trip to Rain system." Kakashi transmitted the meeting point coordinates. "How long will it take you to get there?"

Anko's own navigation implant helped her with the calculations. "About eight hours."

"Then I'll see you in eight hours."

"Good. See you there!" Anko grinned again before her holo vanished.

Yamato seemed more relaxed, but there was still that vertical line between his eyes that only appeared when Kakashi annoyed him more than usual, or when he was really worried.

"Be safe, Kakashi. Try to get back in one piece. Don't let Anko get hurt. And bring back Iruka-sensei."

"Thanks, Tenzou. I will."

Yamato's holo disappeared too.


	9. Full battle suit

The _Hound_ approached the ominous string of ovoid blockade beacons, deceptively smooth and inactive. As soon as the fighter entered their safety zone, the nearest beacon’s surface changed: a coat of metallic spikes protruded from its shell.

"Incoming transmission, as expected," Rin said.

A synthetic voice poured from the main console speakers. "Warning: this is an exclusion zone, your ship is not on the white list. Change your course or we’ll take defensive measures."

The console holo showed a projection of the surrounding space with the whole region beyond the beacons marked in red, and plenty of menacing warning notes and alarm sounds. No doubt intruders to Rain system were clearly warned.

Kakashi cleared his throat and replied. "Ah, sorry, sorry, we didn’t have time to send the request. We have an appointment with your leader for a commercial transaction."

"Your ship is not on the white list. Turn away at once or we’ll take defensive measures."

Obviously Akatsuki was not expending too much of his military budget in the conversational abilities of their A.I.s.

"What weapons are they loading?" Kakashi asked in their private channel.

Rin’s sensors buzzed under the _Hound’s_ hull. "No EMPs, atomics, or projectiles. Mid-range energy canons, and plasma whips. Kakashi, those plasma whips are bad news. They can slice the _ Hound _ in two if they get a direct impact."

A menacing arch formed between the tips of two of the spikes on the nearest beacon, white hot and crackling.

"Then let’s make sure they don’t get any direct impact. Give me full throttle. Anko, fasten your seat belt. We’re going to bounce around a bit."

"Copy," Anko replied from her hideout in the narrow cargo bay. "I trust you, Kakashi. Don’t let us be sliced." Her carefree voice was reassuring. _ She’s at least as crazy as I am, _ Kakashi thought, not for the first time, and let himself smile. She was the perfect teammate for this mission.

Kakashi jumped in the pilot seat and secured his harness. The ship engine revved up as soon as he clicked the last buckle. The _ Hound _ surged forward, crushing him against the seat back.

Kakashi lowered his navigation mask to cover his face completely. He melded with the _ Hound, _ and let in the reassuring feeling of his own senses fusing with the ship sensors and the virtual space Rin created for him. His augmented visual field was filled with new colors, annotations, projections and mixed information from Rin.

He never felt so alive as when he was extended out and piloting during a fight. It was easy to get addicted to it; some pilots got lost in that feeling and had problems coming back to the shrunken reality afterwards. It was a risk, but every star fleet pilot was closely monitored looking for signs of maladjustment. Kakashi was good at dissociating when he needed to, and he had Rin to take care of him.

_Rin, you’re my guardian angel,_ he thought, and it was like he had said it out loud. It was difficult to keep his own thoughts to himself when he was connected like this.

"Kakashi, focus. The party is starting. That whip arch is about to be released."

"Copy." His sharingan calculated the plasma string trajectory predictions, and Rin plotted them in their shared space. The whip lashed in silence, sweeping a good chunk of space close to the _ Hound, _ but not close enough to touch it; Kakashi made the ship turn violently and twist, dodging the attack.

The whip discharges went on for a while. The _Hound’s_ mad rush activated one beacon after another as the ship plunged deeper into Rain’s protected space. Plasma threads sparkled around them, without touching.

Rin transmitted directly into Kakashi’s brain the equivalent of a shouted "Watch out!" warning, but it came too late. A jolt shook the _ Hound _ and pain exploded inside Kakashi’s extended mind. That was a side effect of having your nervous system connected so closely with external sensory endings, your brain couldn’t tell apart anymore which ones were real body inputs and which ones came from the ship sensors. So when the _ Hound _ got hurt, Kakashi got hurt too. It wasn’t pleasant. At least there was no physical damage, unless the pain was so intense that Kakashi went into shock.

"I’ll take care of the repairs," Shizune transmitted. She wasn’t a battle A.I. anyway, and was not helping too much in the fight; Rin was the expert fighter. Kakashi sometimes thought Rin really didn’t need him to pilot the _Hound_ and use the weapons, but she let him do it anyway because she was too considerate.

"A medium ship is approaching. Standard star fleet weapons and a tough shield. Ten people aboard. No official ID."

Kakashi was relieved. "I told you it would work." One of the weak points of his plan was that Akatsuki might not bother to send anyone to intercept them, and they might end up destroyed by the automated beacons. "Let’s play hard to get for a while. But not too hard."

"Understood."

"Shizune, disable the laser cannons. Make it look like they were damaged by the attack."

"Copy."

They went on, dodging the beacon attacks, and trying to get away from the incoming ship. When the ship was close enough Kakashi set an erratic course. "Let’s make them think we’re panicking."

"Tractor beam impact in two," Rin announced. Another jolt went through the _ Hound, _ and it was harshly slowed down. Kakashi was used to the insane gravity pulls during battles and managed not to throw up. He hoped Anko had buckled herself up right and wasn’t bouncing around the cargo bay.

"Kakashi, they’re transmitting." The bridge holo showed someone in full battle suit, helmet included. The visor was up, showing a man’s face with stitched scars on both sides of his mouth. "You’ve violated Rain system space. We’re boarding your ship. For your own safety, do not resist."

_ How charming. _ “Copy.”

Kakashi went through the unpleasant process of extracting himself from his connection with Rin and the ship. It felt too intimate, like pulling himself out of someone’s body after having sex. He was not going to share that thought, and he really hoped Rin never got access to it. He always was disoriented for a few minutes after disconnection.

He was still sitting in his ergonomic pilot seat, unfastening his restraints, when the corridor air lock was forced open with a bang. A second later, a unit of armed storm troopers burst into the pilot room, taking positions, while the rest of the unit searched the ship.

The man that talked to them in the transmission entered the room. He moved like he was the boss. He got close to Kakashi and aimed his energy rifle to Kakashi’s chest.

Kakashi didn’t like the strong dangerous aura around this man. He’d never seen eye implants like theirs, with a dark red sclera and green iris. He wondered what they were for.

Another trooper entered the room. "Captain Kakuzu, there’s no one else aboard. Only him, and two A.I.s."

"Two? Why do you need two? Do you feel lonely while invading other people’s systems?" Captain Kakuzu’s voice sounded bored and malevolent. His sarcasm rubbed Kakashi the wrong way.

"Perhaps. But let’s not waste time in chit-chat. I’m here because—"

Kakashi couldn’t finish his sentence. Captain Kakuzu spun his rifle and smashed it on Kakashi’s jaw, hard, throwing him to the floor. Kakashi sat up, and spat a mouthful of blood, luckily with no teeth. Kakuzu kicked Kakashi’s abdomen, cutting his breath.

_ Damn. This is not going well. _ This part of Kakashi’s plan depended totally on his ability to sweet-talk his captors.

This man, Kakuzu, didn’t look too vulnerable to sweet-talking. Plus, right now Kakashi wasn’t able to breathe, much less to speak. He coughed and fought to get his breath back.

"Get him on his knees," Kakuzu ordered. Two of his men grabbed Kakashi’s arms and pulled him up on his knees, holding him there. Kakuzu stood in front of him.

“Give me a reason not to kill you here and now.” Kakuzu’s deep voice went straight into Kakashi’s brain. He was somehow accessing Kakashi’s navigation implant. Kakashi felt a disturbing prickle growing inside his skull.

“I bring a commercial proposal. You’d lose a lot of money if you kill me.”

The prickling became a burning, and kept growing, until Kakashi couldn’t hold a scream of pain. Then it stopped completely.

Kakuzu waited as Kakashi put himself together again. “You have my attention.” 

Every non-Akatsuki sentient entity on the ship stopped holding their virtual breath.


	10. So close

The last person Iruka expected to be waiting for him when Kisame pushed him into a white interrogation room was Kakashi, with drone Pakkun floating one step behind him. 

Iruka stifled his impulse to rush over to the transparent plasti-glass panel that divided the room in two, still not believing his eyes. 

Kakashi lowered his mask and smiled his beautiful Iruka-smile.

“Yo, Iruka.”

Pakkun activated a sizzling privacy cage around them, to make sure no one outside could hear their conversation, or read their lips. 

Iruka found his voice back.

“Kakashi! Are you okay? How did you get here? They are not keeping you prisoner too, are they? They didn’t put a slave implant in you?”

“Maa, Iruka, don’t ask _ me _ if I’m okay. We’re here because you’re not okay, aren’t we? Don’t worry, no implant. I’m allowed to leave on my free will.”

Iruka looked relieved. “They only told me someone wanted to talk to me. I didn’t expect to see you. Kakashi, these people are dangerous. You should have avoided direct contact.”

“I sook for the direct contact. I contacted them to offer a ransom for you.”

“What?” Iruka was shocked. But then he looked appalled again. “They won’t let me go. They need someone to fill the teacher position in the village. It’s not a matter of money.”

“Everything is a matter of money, especially with Akatsuki’s precarious situation. They need money desperately, and they are smugglers, remember that. Everyone has a price.”

“Then you are negotiating a ransom? But, with what money?”

“That’s not important. Let’s say I have my financial sources.”

“Kakashi,” Iruka sighed, like he was going to scold him, but he thought it better. He rubbed his face and forced a smile. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to look ungrateful or to question what you’re doing to help me. It’s just that I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I know, Iruka.”

“This is not how I imagined it would go if I would ever see you again. I missed you,” Iruka said, with a longing look in his eyes.

Kakashi’s heart clenched.

“Not much intimacy, right? And this damn panel between us.” They shared a sad smile. “I missed you too.”

This was something Kakashi never said to Iruka before. It made Iruka want to jump him. It made him want to cry. They stayed silent for a while, just enjoying the sight of each other.

“So, the thing is, we’ve been negotiating for a while now and they are not willing to let you go unless I bring them some replacement teacher for the kids. We are kind of stuck.” Kakashi sounded apologetic. “They refuse to remove your implant, too. I’m afraid if I insist they will stop being polite with me and put one of those in me as well.” Kakashi rubbed his neck, sheepish.

Iruka resisted the urge to roll his eyes and say ‘I told you so’.

“Iruka, don’t lose your faith. I’m playing for time. I informed Tsunade, as you asked me, and they are starting to get information about Rain planet and considering this treaty. Part of my work here is a diversion. So, even if the ransom thing doesn’t look great, please hang on there. We’ll take you home, one way or another. It might take some time, but we will. I’ll be true to my promise. I know you don’t have many reasons to trust me up until now. Trust me with this, okay?”

Iruka nodded, silently.

“But by now it looks like we have to do what Akatsuki want,” Kakashi admitted.

Iruka could see an edge of cold fury in Kakashi’s eyes. His left eye had a dangerous red gleam.

“Kakashi, your sharingan is showing.”

Kakashi came back from his thoughts and looked at Iruka. His eye went back to black.

Kakashi came closer to Iruka. He pressed his forehead to the panel separating them, and closed his eyes.

“I’m sorry, Iruka. I don’t want to leave you here.”

Iruka placed his hand over Kakashi’s forehead, from the other side of the panel. It felt so disappointing, not being able to touch.

“I’ll be fine,” Iruka braved. “I’d feel guilty anyway, disappearing and leaving these kids here.”

“Your mother hen ways now extend to Konoha’s enemies?”

“This is not the children’s fault. They are victims here, as much as I am. Or more. Their whole lives are a history of injustice.”

Kakashi sighed.

“I feel you are not going to just leave and forget about their situation, even if I manage to take you away from Rain’s claws, are you?”

Iruka frowned.

“No, I’m not. Even if I don’t make it, it’s important that the treaty goes on its way. The people here deserve an opportunity to improve their living conditions.”

“Including Akatsuki?”

“If they put aside their pirate ways, yes.”

“Do you want to protect the people who kidnapped you? Who made your life hell?”

“It’s… Complicated. They were trying to take care of their kids.”

“By making you a slave?” Kakashi’s mouth was drawing a tense unhappy line.

“It’s not the children’s fault.”

“It’s not your fault either. I don’t know how you’re able to find that kind of mercy inside you. I would kill them all for the way they treated you. I’m sure you’re not the only one they abused.”

Kakashi’s eyes still showed that cold edge when talking about the Akatsuki.

_ It shouldn’t feel this good, that Kakashi wants to kill the ones that hurt me, _ Iruka thought. He basked in the warm feeling for a little longer.

There was a harsh timer sound. The time for their meeting was over.

Iruka swallowed down the despair he felt on hearing that sound. He hated that his life had become a place where the scarce good moments were always despotically regulated and timed. He looked at Kakashi, trying to memorize every detail, wondering if this would be the last time he would see him.

“I want to kiss you so bad. I wish you could stay and make up for all my lonely nights here,” Iruka said.

Kakashi’s eye pierced Iruka. Iruka thought he could see longing there, the same intense feeling Iruka felt. But, as always with Kakashi, he was not sure if he was making up things that he wanted to be true.

“I wish I could, too. I thought you were dead, Iruka, but then I found your ship and I knew you had to be alive. I finally found you here, but I still can’t take you away with me. I won’t rest until you’re back in Konoha. Stay strong, Iruka. It won’t be much longer.”

Kakashi placed his open hand on the transparent panel. Iruka placed his over it, on the other side, like trying to feel a scrap of the warmth of Kakashi’s physical presence in that very room. Like trying to make sure that he was there for real, and was not another Akatsuki trick.

_ So close, and still out of reach, _ Iruka thought, and the thought hurt. 

The guards opened the room’s door, waiting for Kakashi to get out. Pakkun deactivated the privacy cage. 

“Tell Naruto I’m okay and I love him.”

They looked at each other for one more second. Then Kakashi turned away and left. 

Iruka watched him leave, with his hand still on the screen. Underneath his despair, he felt a spark of hope starting to grow. When Kakashi set his will on something, he didn’t stop until the end. 

_ Perhaps I won’t die in this place after all. _


	11. A visit from a friend

“Negotiations unsuccessful. Be ready to leave at any moment. Expect a visit from a friend in a few days.”

The soft glow of the electronic screen illuminated Iruka’s shocked face. A fond smile curled his lips when he saw the small henohenomoheji at the end of the concise text.

Iruka re-read the message in the console smuggled to him by Bisuke weeks ago. Every morning since then he had checked the device, not really expecting anything. Today, for the first time there was news—good news.

He thoroughly hid the console again inside a deep slice in the side of his mattress—not very original, but safe enough, hopefully. Then he sat on the floor by his bed, pensive. 

He just hoped Kakashi didn’t do anything too extreme, or dragged his colleagues into danger. Knowing Kakashi, this was really too much to expect; he never did things halfway, and his mind didn’t follow the conventional paths. 

Kakashi confronted everything in his life like it was a battle plan. Attack, defend, cut dead weight, and complete the current mission with success. No unnecessary actions. It was the way he was, and it was not likely to change. Iruka had met many people like this in the star fleet, efficient to the core, true soldiers not only in the battlefield. 

Yet no one was like Kakashi. Kakashi was detached, but he wasn’t cold. He never left any teammate behind. Never. When people close to him were involved, he bent and broke the rules. Iruka had seen him do it more than once.

It was just one of the reasons Iruka fell for him. Underneath every layer, every isolating mask, Kakashi’s heart was in the right place.

Iruka’s mind roamed to a favorite memory: the time Kakashi and him spent together in the Hiding Moon, a leisure station asteroid in the main route to Water system. Kakashi was coming back from a mission that ended sooner than expected, and Iruka was taking a long deserved holiday to visit the hot springs that were the main attraction of the station. It was a rare coincidence and a perfect opportunity to spend some quality time together. They hired a suite with their own private section of the onsen, and enjoyed the vacation resort for a few days. 

Iruka remembered their relaxed conversations and shared silences, the easy way they fit together. It was the first time they really had time to get to know each other a little better, and it was very different from their usual rushed meetings where they were forced to make good use of the little time they had, spending it on mind-numbing sessions of sex, some food to recover, some hours of shared sleep if they were lucky, and little else. Being relaxed and having plenty of time was new for both of them, and Iruka found he liked it very much.

He remembered the transparent cover of their suite showing a perpetual velvety night sky. He remembered them making love under the beautiful stars shining for them, wide open in front of the black cruel void of the universe. He remembered feeling at ease like never before, and wishing that it could last. 

He remembered Kakashi asking him, ‘do you believe in fate?’ Iruka didn’t, but it was a nice dream, the idea of them destined to be together.

Iruka ran his fingers through his hair as he remembered. He forced himself back to the grey present and made up his mind.

He wanted to go back to Kakashi. They had some unfinished business to deal with. He wanted to go back to Konoha. 

Iruka had enough of meekly going along with his situation in Rain, of tolerating it and trying to adapt to it. The time was coming to stand up and fight for himself, for better or worse. Living like this was not living at all.

Hope fought anxiety in Iruka’s mind. He used his training to keep calm, and prepared to act normal for the rest of the day, and the days to follow. _Soon_, he told himself.

⁂

Iruka woke up disoriented. He opened his eyes and saw Oyone’s masked face leaning over him. He jerked away and almost fell off the stretcher.

“Calm down! You’re okay. You collapsed in class and the kids asked Kisame to bring you to the infirmary. No cardiac arrest this time, you just went into shock and passed out.”

Oyone helped him to sit up, slowly. Iruka grimaced at her contact. It took him a couple minutes to clear the whirl on his mind.

Oyone attached a med strip to his forearm and re-run some diagnostics on him.

“Your vitals are okay. The tissue around the implant is a bit swollen. Too many activations.” Her voice faltered a little, and she looked away. Iruka knew she still wasn’t able to look him in the eyes when talking about the implant.

She cleared her throat and looked at him again. ”You’re still losing weight, and your immune system is a bit depressed. Iruka, you have to eat more. I would give you nutritional supplements, but we’re short of medical supplies. You have to do it by yourself.”

“Thank you for your concern.” Iruka couldn’t help the sarcastic ring to his words. It was difficult to accept Oyone’s care after what she did to him, even if she was forced to do it.

Oyone sighed, frustrated. She removed the strip and rolled it up.

“Classes have been dismissed for today. Go back to your room and get some rest.”

She helped Iruka stand up and walked him to the door. He was still feeling a bit unsteady, but his strength was coming back.

Before opening the door, Oyone stopped for a moment, looking like she wanted to tell Iruka something else.

“What’s it?” Iruka tensed, lately he’d learnt to be wary of surprises.

Oyone looked at him for a long second. "We have a new guard. She will take you to your room.” She removed her medical mask. “Iruka, be careful. No one here knows her. She…” Oyone looked away. “I don’t know. It’s just a gut feeling. Stay alert, okay? I don’t trust her.”

Iruka nodded. Why did Oyone  risk her safety to warn him? He didn’t know what to think. He didn’t either trust Oyone, after all, but he got the feeling that she was really trying to help him. "Thank you,” he said, standoffish.

Oyone opened the door. The new guard was waiting for them outside the room, with her back to the door. She turned to them and smiled a crooked smile.

Iruka’s heart almost stopped again. He struggled hard to keep a neutral expression.

He was looking at the mission-modified face of Mitarashi Anko.


	12. In the middle of nowhere

“Oyone, the boss said that you have to go back with the teacher. You know, in case he faints again.” Anko-in-disguise winked, amused.

Oyone frowned. “Why? There’s no need. And how could I help without my equipment if something happens?”

“I don’t discuss orders, ma’am. I just obey them. And you should do the same if you don’t want trouble.”

Oyone nodded, defeated. She reached for her first-aid handbag and left the building with Iruka. Anko followed them with her energy rifle at ready.

As they walked the muddy streets, Iruka caught a glimpse of Anko’s hand signs for ‘Ready for retrieval’. He felt adrenaline rush through him. He managed to reply with a hasty ‘Don’t harm hostages’. Anko replied with a small nod.

Right after they left the main village avenue, onto a shady side street, Anko made a movement too fast to be registered by Iruka’s eyes, and hit a pressure point in Oyone’s neck. The medic was out instantly. Iruka caught her before she fell to the ground, like a puppet with cut strings.

“Iruka!” Anko said, with a wide smile. She grabbed Iruka’s nape to pull him into a one-armed hug, and bumped their foreheads together.

That affectionate gesture, which they’d made a thousand times in a past life, brought Iruka a whiff of everything he thought he’d lost forever. He had to fight a sudden rise of emotions; this was not the moment to let them out. So Iruka just closed his eyes briefly, focused on keeping his balance in Anko’s clutch while holding Oyone’s dead weight in his arms, and not breaking down.

Anko let him go after a second. “I’m so glad you’re okay. There will be time for the right greetings later. This is the doctor who put that nasty thing inside you, right?” Anko gestured to Oyone with her chin.

“Yes. She was forced to do it. Her daughter is five, she’s in my class.” Iruka tensed, holding Oyone a little tighter and away from Anko.

Anko rolled her eyes. “Come on, making friends with the enemy, sensei? Don’t worry, I won’t harm her. But we need her collaboration if we want to get you rid of that thingy.” Anko poked his finger softly over Iruka’s heart. “We’re taking her with us.”

Iruka was not happy with the idea of abducting Oyone; as much as the woman upset him, he didn’t want her to get hurt. What he wanted to do was to leave her there and never have to see her again, yet he also was pretty sure that without the data on her medical implants he was as good as dead.

“Now, can you carry her? We’ve got to walk for a couple miles, and I need my hands free in case there’s trouble.” Anko started walking, without looking back to see if he followed.

Iruka hesitated. It was too late to back down now. What was at stake here wasn’t just his own safety—Anko too was risking her freedom and her life for him. And he wanted to live, he wanted to get away from this nightmare. He thought of Naruto, of Kakashi, of the life he left behind in Konoha.

Iruka swore. He bit down his guilt, maneuvered Oyone onto his back, and followed Anko through the shadows and the puddles of the narrow street that would take him out of the sad village of Rain.

”Thought you were going to stay there forever,” Anko said when Iruka caught up with her pace.

“No, let’s go,” Iruka said. He had a ton of questions for Anko, but they would have to wait until they were away from the village and he felt a little less like scum.

⁂

The trek through the desolate swamp-like terrain around Rain village was longer than a couple miles, or that was what it seemed to Iruka, with Oyone on his back. His legs were cramping and his knees were close to giving in by the time they approached a rock formation that looked no different from the few others they’d seen on their way.

_Oyone was right. After these months here I got weaker than ever before,_ Iruka thought with dismay. 

They were free to talk once they were a few minutes away from the village, even if Anko had all their sensors activated and was watching out for enemies.

Iruka listened to the thrilling story of how Kakashi and Anko broke into Rain system, with Anko undetected. She’d left the  _ Hound _ after Captain Kakuzu’s ship towed it into one of the Akatsuki’s patrol cruisers. While Kakuzu and his troopers took Kakashi to one of the interrogation rooms and roughed him up a little more, Anko’d used her cutting-edge infiltration wetware to hack her way into the cruiser’s systems. She’d accessed Akatsuki’s main Human Resources data banks to plant a fake temporary contract as a security guard down on the planet surface. 

“After all, they are not so different from a big corporation. I’ve hacked a few of them before,” Anko had said, cheeky. Iruka couldn’t help but smile. Same old Anko as ever.

After that, the rest was easy. She’d changed her appearance into one of her favorites for spying missions, gotten a couple jumpsuits and uniforms from the ship’s storage units—totally non-fashionable, in her opinion, these Akatsuki really didn’t have style—and joined the next replacement personnel sent to the planet. Meanwhile, Kakashi negotiated his own way through Rain’s bureaucratic layers, and kept the attention focused on him. His part of the mission was a diversion in more than one way.

“Here we are.” Anko circled around those big stones they had reached in the middle of nowhere. The rocky mass fluttered, revealing it was just a holo covering what was beneath. A section in the side of the fake rocks dissolved to show a door that looked very much like the  _ Hound’s _ main hatch.

Anko came back and opened the hatch. “I’ll keep watch outside,“ she said, and gave Iruka another one of her toothy smiles. She turned around, with her rifle up. Iruka went up the ramp, his knees trembling again, and not just from exhaustion.

Walking up that ramp, he felt like he was home again. He felt excited and hopeful, for the first time in months.

“Iruka, welcome back! It’s so good to see you again,” it was Shizune’s voice, soothing and filled with joy. Synthetic joy, but joy anyway. Iruka felt elated at her words, as he struggled up the ramp and into the airlock and the ship corridors.

“Shizune, here I am. Are you okay? Did they damage you?”

“Oh, Iruka, that’s so typical of you, worrying about me when you’re the one that was abducted and treated like shit.”

Iruka chuckled. "Never heard you swear before." He didn't even know she was capable of doing it.

"Only on special occasions. I think this qualifies as one. Welcome home, Iruka.“

“Thank you, Shizz.” Shizune laughed again with the silly nickname.  _ We’re still not home, but we’re closer. _

Iruka paused in front of the round inner airlock, his heart beating fast. Before he touched the door seal he saw movement on the other side. Someone was coming, fast. Iruka could only see a fuzzy silhouette through the thick translucent door, but he recognized the wild hair spikes, the fitting star fleet uniform, the way they moved. Iruka tensed, expectant. 

The airlock door opened with a hiss. Kakashi rushed out of it and stopped short of bumping into Iruka.


	13. Gravity

Kakashi’s maskless face running into him was the most wonderful thing Iruka had seen in a very long time.

“Iruka!” Kakashi grabbed Iruka and the unconscious woman weighing him down into a bear hug, cutting Iruka’s breath. Iruka couldn’t care less.

“Kakashi,” Iruka wheezed when he started to see black dots, “you’re choking me.”

“Oh, sorry, sorry. Let me help you.” Kakashi took Oyone in his arms and walked into the ship’s corridors. Iruka followed him, feeling weak but light, like he was floating on a cloud.

“I thought I’d never see this ship again. Nor you.” He didn’t think Kakashi heard his soft words, but it didn’t matter. Being here with him was what mattered.

When they got into the main ship compartment Iruka noticed a platform set up as a surgical table, with some instruments  set up around, looking sterilized and ready to use. He cringed a bit but ignored the feeling.

“Iruka, welcome aboard.” Rin’s voice was another blessing to add to his feeling of being home again.

“Hey Rin, nice to meet you again.”

Iruka leaned on the door frame, looking at Kakashi while he set Oyone on one of the seats, and fumbled to secure her with the seat belts to keep her limp body from sliding to the floor.

When Oyone was out of the way, Kakashi turned to Iruka and smiled a wide smile. “So you’re finally here. No plastic screen, no holo. Same planet, same room.” He walked slowly to Iruka.

“We don’t have much time, again, I guess.” But Kakashi’s smile was contagious. Iruka just wanted to drown in it, in the beauty of this moment of reunion. He pushed himself apart from the wall, and closed the distance to Kakashi. “Can I kiss you?”

“I don’t know, sensei. Can you?” Kakashi teased. Iruka felt home once again. He put his arms around Kakashi and kissed him.

It felt as good as he had imagined a thousand times along the last months. Having Kakashi in his arms, kissing him, made it all worthwhile.  _ How lame I am, _ a tiny group of neurons in Iruka’s brain thought, but he happily ignored them. He just got lost in the feeling, determined to enjoy it for as long as he could.

Neither of them knew how long their kisses lasted. They parted after what could have been hours, a bit breathless, more than a bit aroused.

“I think we should cut it here. Not that I want it, but…” Kakashi nibbled at Iruka’s chin, and gave him a couple of little kisses, contradicting his words.

“Yes, we should.” Iruka sighed, and extracted himself from Kakashi’s hug. Damn bad timing and danger of death.

“I have so many things to ask you that I don’t know where to start,” Iruka said, sheepish.

“Me too. But they will have to wait. There are more urgent things now, sensei. We don’t have much time, as you said. We have to remove that implant.”

Iruka’s mood got much darker. He turned to Oyone, dreading what was going to happen when she was awake. To them both.

“Rin and Shizune are ready, they prepared everything for doing the surgery here.” Iruka followed Kakashi’s line of sight to the surgical theater prepared in the corner.

“I’m ready too. As ready as I will be.” Iruka looked back to Oyone. “I guess you need her cooperation, right?”

Shizune answered. “Yes, Iruka. The device has an encrypted removal code, and it’s unbreakable. We need her to provide the code and the secret key to decrypt it. If she doesn’t there’s no way we can remove the implant without you dying.”

“And if we don’t remove the implant I can’t leave.” It was as easy as that.

Iruka looked at Kakashi, serious. “Kakashi—”

Kakashi raised a hand, cutting him. “I know what you’re going to demand. No torture, right? No forcing her to cooperate.”

“We can’t do that to her.” Iruka shook his head, stubborn. 

Kakashi huffed, frustrated. “Look, Iruka. You win. As much as I can’t agree with you in this, I know you wouldn’t be able to live with it on your conscience. If I hurt her to save you, I know you wouldn’t forgive me.” Kakashi raised his hands in defeat. “So I won’t do it. We’ll offer her and her daughter the right of asylum in Konoha. And if she refuses to help we’ll let her go.”

Iruka looked relieved. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. I wish I was a good person, like you. I’m not.” Kakashi looked quite more serious than usual. He didn’t mention that if they had to let Oyone go there wasn’t any way to remove Iruka’s implant, but he trusted it wouldn’t come to that.

“You’re good enough,” Iruka said, and smiled at Kakashi, cupping his cheek.

The moment was broken by Anko’s voice through the ship speakers.

“Guys, their transmissions are starting to get animated. They’ve noticed Iruka and Oyone are gone. Whatever you’re doing in there, hurry up.”

“Copy, Anko. We’ll hurry.”

⁂

Kakashi crouched in front of Oyone and hit the same spot in her neck Anko had hit an hour before. Oyone opened her eyes, disoriented, and looked around at the familiar face of Iruka, the unfamiliar one of Kakashi, and the surgical tools ready at the back of the room.

As soon as her sight focused, her face showed her understanding of the situation.

“You want Iruka’s implant code.”

“Smart girl,” Kakashi said, with a smile devoid of all joy.

“If I tell you they’ll kill me. Or my daughter.” She really looked scared, but not of the people in this room.

“We offer you both refuge in Konoha. You can leave today with us.”

Oyone’s bitter laugh surprised them both. She grabbed the zip in her uniform and opened it to show them a small scar on her chest, in the same place as Iruka’s scar.

“Oh, no,” Iruka said, appalled.

She sobered, and looked at them, determined.

“I’ll do it if you take Yuuna with you and raise her as a citizen of Konoha. I’ll do it if you promise you will take care of her, Iruka. I’ll stay here.”

Iruka was shocked by her selfless offer. By her trust in him.

“We can’t do that. They’ll kill you.”

“But she will be safe and away from this awful place.”

“And she will lose you! No, I don’t accept this. Kakashi, not this way.”

Anko’s voice shouting in the comms interrupted them. “We have guests! They’re getting near, and fast. Go, Kakashi! Now! I’ll go back to the village, I’m still undercover.”

Kakashi made his decision without hesitation. “Rin, emergency takeoff. You two, sit and secure your belts. Guruko and Uuhei, follow Anko. Stealth mode, but be ready to help her if she’s attacked.” Kakashi ran to the ship command room.

The _Hound_ started moving even before Kakashi finished speaking. Two sharp yips from the drones acknowledging Kakashi’s orders were the last sounds that could be heard before the growing roar of the ship engines drowned everything else.

The star fighter picked up speed in its vertical course, but it stopped suddenly with a painful shake. It remained suspended fifteen meters over the ground.

Kakashi fell to the floor, deftly avoiding injury. “What happened?,” he barked.

“I don’t know,” Rin sounded confused. “There is something keeping us from moving, like a tractor beam, but I can’t feel any tractor device nearby.” The engines screamed, trying to make the ship move, with no success. The _ Hound_ started to shake, straining.

Iruka and Oyone had managed to fasten their belts before the ship jolted. All the surgical instruments jumped in their cases, but luckily they didn’t fly around the room. Oyone sat stiff in her seat, clutching the edge of the table. Iruka kept his calm.

Rin projected a line in the comm holo. It stretched to the muddy surface where a group of Akatsuki soldiers was approaching the holo rocks where the _Hound_ was hidden seconds before. “It comes from down there.”

The holo zoomed on the people below. The red spot at the end of Rin’s projection circled Yahiko’s black clad shape, with Konan by his side. His hand was stretched towards the floating ship. Not far away, Captain Kakuzu stood pointing his rifle to the head of a familiar purple-haired guard kneeling on the ground, with streaks of blood on her face.

“It’s like he projects a gravity field. We’re stuck, Kakashi. And they got Anko.”

The _Hound’s_ shaking was increasing. Everything around started to rattle.

“Go back down, Rin.” Kakashi accepted his defeat.

The _Hound_ stopped shaking and lowered itself slowly to the ground. Iruka’s hopes went down with it.


	14. The final two meters

“Get out of the ship, or we kill your friend,” Yahiko said through the speakers. His voice made Iruka cringe.

The three of them walked to the ship’s hatch and stopped there. Kakashi opened a compartment in the wall and got two energy handguns. He gave one to Iruka. “You know how to use one of these, right?”

“Come on, I _teach_ how to use them.” Iruka was not sure he appreciated Kakashi’s joke in a moment like this. He put the gun in one of the pockets in the leg of his uniform. “They will take them away from us anyway as soon as we get out.”

“They’ll try,” Kakashi said. “Listen, Iruka. Anko and I have some hidden moves for situations like this. Stay alert, and get out of the way and into a safe place when she gives the signal, okay?”

Iruka nodded, distressed. “I’m not going to like this, am I?” Kakashi just smirked. “Okay, this is not the moment to be difficult. I’ll do as you say.”

Kakashi looked at Oyone. “This goes for you, too. When things start to go bumpy I want you to run and hide in the ship, or wherever you feel safe. Take shelter the best you can, all right?”

Oyone nodded, her eyes wide open. Iruka thought that she probably was not used to being involved in these kinds of fights. He placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to reassure her. “It will be okay, Oyone. Trust him. I do.”

She nodded again, and took a deep breath.

“Ready?” Kakashi said, with his hand on the hatch lock.

“As ready as we’ll be,” Iruka said. Kakashi opened the door and they started walking down the ramp, trying to get their eyes adapted to the grey light of the rainy day outside. Half of the people waiting for them aimed their energy guns at them—but Iruka knew the real danger came from the other half, the ones who didn’t need guns.

⁂

“You, again. I saw your ship get out of the system. How did you get back?” Kakuzu said to Kakashi, almost amused, without taking his attention off of Anko, who was kneeling in front of him, with her arms behind her head.

“I never left.” It all was a witty invention Rin designed some years ago: a small device implanted in some of the _Hound’s_ pack drones, which allowed them to emit into other ship’s sensors the same signals than the whole  _ Hound. _ Kakuzu thought he was tracking Kakashi’s ship leaving the system, when he was really looking at drone Bull with his  _Hound_ simulation fully displayed. Meanwhile, Kakashi and the real  _Hound_ snuck away halfway and turned around, found a discreet place to land on Rain planet, and waited for Anko to get Iruka out.

“You’ll have time to talk later,” Yahiko scolded Kakuzu, in his cold way. “Secure the trespasser.”

Kakuzu looked at two of his troopers and tilted his head in Kakashi’s direction.

“Yes, sir,” the troopers said, and walked to Kakashi. One of them got some nasty looking handcuffs from a bag in his uniform, the kind that could produce electric shocks to stun their unlucky bearer.

“You,” Konan said, looking intently at Iruka. “Don’t you value your life? Are you so eager to leave that you will risk Oyone’s life too?”

Iruka felt his guilt come back full force. Konan was totally right, he’d been so desperate and selfish that he had put Oyone in great danger.

“She didn’t cooperate. Your precious code is safe, we don’t have it.” Iruka mentally crossed his fingers so that Oyone wouldn’t say anything and made things difficult for herself.

That was the moment Anko chose to play her move. About two dozen snakes surged from her uniform sleeves and threw themselves over the people around with loud hissing sounds, taking everyone by surprise.

⁂

Chaos broke out. Kakashi was moving in Anko’s direction before Iruka even blinked.

One of the snakes had landed on Kakuzu’s face, and now he was trying to keep it from biting him and inoculating him with its poison. Some of the troopers were struggling with snakes too, some others were plainly panicking. That was one of Anko’s favorite side effects of her snakes, the phobia they induced in some people.

“You're having a great time, right?” Kakashi said, as he situated himself back to back with Anko, his sharingan shining red. The troopers around them that were not fighting snakes fell into a state of confusion and numbness caused by Kakashi’s eye implant. Their brains were caught in the intense genjutsu field created by the sharingan. Some of the soldiers fired their guns. The general situation was a mess.

But the troopers were not the problem. Kakashi was very aware of the Akatsuki leaders and Kakuzu. The snakes would not keep them away for much longer.

“We need to do something with Yahiko or the  _Hound_ will never get away. And we need to get Oyone’s kid, she’s in danger now,” Kakashi said.

“I sent Yuuna to a safe place before getting Iruka. No open ends here. Uuhei and Guruko are looking after her and waiting to take her wherever we say.” Anko was thorough in her tasks.

“Great,” Kakashi said, relieved. “So, Yahiko.”

“Yeah, Yahiko. And that Konan bitch, I haven’t seen her fight yet. I don’t know what she can do but I have a bad feeling. She’s probably dangerous too.”

Kakashi got a smoke bomb from a pocket and threw it in front of them. A dense grey cloud wrapped everyone and made things even more confusing—not that the smoke would trick the ones with combat implants, but it made everything more difficult.

“Ah,” Anko gasped and grabbed her head, breathless; Kakuzu had gotten rid of her snakes and was using his mind-drilling attack on Anko.

Kakashi winced, remembering how it felt. He used his sharingan to copy the signature of Kakuzu’s attack, and threw it back to the big man. Kakuzu stopped in his tracks, shocked.

“It’s not so funny when you’re on the other side, uh?” Kakuzu couldn’t answer. He dropped to the floor, holding his head in his hands and grunting. He would be out of commission for a while.

⁂

The hissing of Anko’s snakes had been the signal Iruka was waiting for. “Oyone, come with me!,” he said, and grabbed her hand to drag her with him into the ship again.  Iruka’s stomach clenched when he saw Kakashi throwing himself into the fight; but Iruka was not the best fighter, far from Kakashi and Anko’s level. The best he could do to help them now was putting himself and Oyone out of the way, into a safe place.

They were halfway up the ramp when the uncontrolled energy gun fire started. “Bow your head,” he said, crouching as the rays flew around them, and trying to cover her from the fire with his own body. They had to get out of there, fast.

They had almost made it up the ramp when a ray hit Oyone’s back and pierced her chest, right over her implant. She fell to the ramp floor, with a whimper.

“No!” Iruka grabbed her by her armpits, and dragged her the final two meters into the _Hound’s_ hatch, leaving a trail of blood on the floor. They were inside now, safe from the gun rays, but a second too late.

"Ah, this fixes the problem," Oyone said, spitting blood. Her wound was bleeding too much. Iruka pressed his hands over the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. “Shizune!” he shouted.

“Bring her to the table, quick,” Shizune demanded. Iruka took Oyone in his arms and did as Shizune said. Three robotic medical arms sprouted around the table, guided by Shizune and Rin, with perfect precision. They started poking and inspecting Oyone’s wound. When they poked too close to the implant a small warning zap made Oyone scream and clench in pain.

“The wound is too close to the implant. It is reacting to the healing. It thinks we’re trying to remove it.” Rin’s soft voice confirmed Iruka’s fears.

Oyone reached out with her bloodied hand. Iruka took it.

"Promise me you’ll take her to Konoha. You’ll care for her. Won’t leave her alone." Oyone’s voice was desperate. Iruka felt like he fired the killing shot himself.

"I promise."

Oyone’s grimace relaxed.

"To the ship A.I., this is Iruka’s code." 

She transmitted the code with her medicom link. It was the last thing she did.


	15. A world of pain

A swarm of little papery things that looked like origami butterflies surrounded Kakashi and Anko. Konan came out of the smoke cloud, getting close. She looked royally pissed, with a cold fury that looked dangerous. Yahiko was not an immediate risk—they saw him in the back of the group, struggling with five or six snakes of his own. A couple of guards were trying to help him get rid of them, with little success.

“You should’ve never come here. You, haughty Konoha people, acting like the whole Universe is here to please you. You and the Great Nation systems should all learn what is like to fight for your air, for your sustenance. To fight just to survive.”

“Save the propaganda, please. I’m only here to get Iruka back.” Kakashi was not up to chatting now.

“Iruka will stay here. You can die here, now, or accept it.” Konan raised her hand, and her shape seemed to dissolve into a thousand leaves of paper.

“Genjutsu,” Anko whispered in their comm link.

“No, this is something different. Be still, Anko”. Kakashi didn’t wait to see what Konan’s attack would do. He threw his arms around Anko, and made a hand sign to activate one of his last resort tricks. Kakashi’s sharingan glowed crimson, and the air around him and Anko trembled, making whirlpool-like waves. Everyone around felt suddenly dizzy, like the very space-time dimensions of their reality were shaken. Kakashi and Anko disappeared into the dimensional whirlpool.

⁂

Iruka was still holding Oyone’s limp bloody hand when a disturbing air turbulence formed in the middle of _Hound's_ main room. Anko and Kakashi materialized out of nowhere, and fell to the floor. Anko crawled to the side of the room and threw up. Kakashi looked around, disoriented.

Rin and Iruka spoke at the same time.

“We have the code,” said Rin.

“Oyone is dead.” Iruka got out of his numbness to look at Kakashi and Anko. “Are you hurt? How did you get out?”

“Later, Iruka. Rin, second try. We’re leaving, fast. Yahiko won’t be distracted for too long.”

“No, you’re not leaving,” Yahiko’s voice came from the speakers. Rin projected a holo of him, walking towards the _Hound_, raising a hand in front of his face, and making the familiar sign that meant a world of pain for Iruka.

Iruka looked at Yahiko’s holo without reacting. His thoughts jumped to Oyone’s warning that his heart wouldn’t stand too many more implant discharges. 

_ So, that’s it. _ Iruka felt strangely calm. He thought that if this time Yahiko’s zap killed him he wouldn’t have to go back to Rain, and he wouldn’t have to learn to live with the weight of Oyone’s death on him. 

Then the implant punishment hit him hard, harder than ever before. His eyes rolled up, and he fell to the floor, shaking, unable to breathe.

“Iruka!” Kakashi stopped Iruka’s fall, surprised. He didn’t know what was happening to Iruka. Rin transmitted to Kakashi the basic information about the implant’s punishment mode: unbearable pain, and the risk of cardiac arrest. Kakashi could only hold Iruka, trying to think of a way to stop the attack.

Yahiko walked into the _Hound_ as he continued with Iruka’s ruthless punishment.

“Yahiko,” Konan grabbed Yahiko’s forearm, warning him. But Yahiko was not stopping. His face for once showed some kind of emotion: cold rage, a grimace of hatred and killing intent.

“Stop it,” Kakashi demanded through clenched teeth. “Or you all will die here.”

Yahiko was too furious to answer. He kept zapping Iruka.

⁂

“Yahiko, stop.” A stern new voice surprised them all; Nagato walked into the _Hound’s_ main room with Kisame in tow.

Yahiko was too lost in his rage fit to listen to Nagato.

Nagato put a hand on Yahiko’s shoulder. “Brother, stop.”

Yahiko turned his face to look at him. There were a tense few seconds where the only sound was Iruka struggling to breathe. Then Yahiko lowered his hand, looking defeated, a strange sight on his face.

"He’s leaving. They got the implant removal code from Oyone. She’s dead."

Nagato nodded, and went to where Konan was already kneeling by Oyone’s side.

⁂

Kakashi held Iruka until his seizures stopped. "It was the implant, right? I could sense Yahiko triggering it."

Iruka was shaking, still too numb to speak. He nodded.

"How many times did he do this to you?" Kakashi’s sharingan started to glow red.

"A few," Iruka managed to say. 

Right after that his abused heart gave up and stopped beating.

⁂

Kakashi felt it before Shizune and Rin’s alarmed voice sounded in his commlink at top volume. He took Iruka in his arms and lifted him from the floor, moving Oyone out of the operating table and putting Iruka in her place. The A.I.s started the cardiac reanimation. Kakashi’s mind filtered out Shizune and Rin’s hectic communications while trying to get Iruka’s heart to beat again.

Kakashi’s vision turned completely red. His spike of cold killing intent drowned every sensor in the ship. Showing his teeth, clenching his fists, he turned around and dashed at the inhuman maximum speed his combat enhancements provided him to the place where Yahiko stood. Two guards tried to stop Kakashi, but they were on the floor writhing in pain before they knew what hit them. Kakashi’s right hand aimed for Yahiko’s heart, sizzling with sparks of concentrated energy.

Kakashi felt his hand sink into someone’s chest, but the face in front of him wasn’t Yahiko’s.

Kakashi’s vision went down to normal and he recognized Konan’s face, her amber eyes wide open, his mouth opened in a silent scream, spitting blood.

⁂

"No!" Yahiko’s voice was choked. He put his arms around Konan as her legs bent and she fell to the floor, like an ominous reenactment of Iruka’s previous falling. There was blood everywhere, coming from the horrendous hole in Konan’s chest.

Yahiko pressed his hands over the hole in Konan’s chest, uselessly. He caressed her hair, trying to get it away from her face, messing it all with her blood.

Kakashi fell on his knees, numb, holding his blood-soaked right hand in front of him, it's chirping energy sparks dissolving into silence and residual retina impressions. He hadn't seen Konan getting in his way to protect Yahiko. He couldn't stop in time, and now she was dead.

The world around was only made of blood and death.

⁂

Nagato’s voice pulled them all out of their stupor. "This is not how it should have gone." He looked around, at the dead bodies of Oyone, Konan, Iruka—still under the frantic A.I.s reanimation attempts—and everyone else frozen around.

Nagato closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His sorrowful expression relaxed into a blank face. He pulled his hands together in a sign in front of him, and stiffened. When he opened his eyes again they shined with a purple light.

The air around seemed to freeze, to condensate in a slow moving jam. Tendrils of blinding silver light appeared between him, the med console and the dead people.

Nagato’s calm voice spoke through all the ship’s systems. "Rin, Shizune. Help me bring them back."


	16. Little wicked piece of metal

Kakashi didn’t understand what was happening. It was just too much to process. “Rin?” he called through their commlink.

“Not now. Stay aside. I’ll explain later, but this is good news. Trust me,” she replied.

Kakashi did as told and let her alone. He stumbled back to where Anko was sitting on the floor in a corner, them both feeling too sick and shocked to do anything.

He didn’t know how long they sat like that, watching the surreal scene in front of them. It was like a dream, with time flowing in a strange way.

After what could have been hours, days, or minutes, Rin’s voice took them back to reality. “It’s done. Kakashi, come.”

Kakashi stood up on unsteady legs and made a beeline to the table where Iruka was lying.

“Help him up, let’s make space for the next one.”

Iruka opened his eyes, his beautiful brown eyes, and Kakashi felt like an iron claw just stopped choking him.

“Go, take him outside. Kakuzu’s people set up a tent with beds for them all,” Shizune said.

Iruka tried to sit up, but he was too weak. Kakashi wasn’t in very good shape either, after having overused all his systems, and having seen Iruka die on him. Between the two of them and Anko’s wobbly help they managed to take Iruka away as Shizune asked. Before leaving the room, they got a glimpse of Yahiko reverently placing Konan’s corpse on the operating table, bright white light coming out of Nagato again, and the medical arms starting to work on Konan’s dead body.

Kakashi and Anko helped Iruka walk out of the ship and into a big military tent set a few meters away. Iruka laid down on one of the bunks. He was confused, dosed with painkillers and exhausted, but his mood changed radically when Kisame brought Oyone into the tent, looking as confused and weak as Iruka felt, but alive. Iruka’s exhaustion won him after that, and he fell asleep.

They all were exhausted. Anko snuck into one of the bunks and was out almost before her head hit the pillow. Kakashi sat on the floor and fell asleep with his back against Iruka’s bed. Drone Pakkun stood guard at the feet of the bed.

⁂

Kakashi would never really understand what happened inside the _Hound_ that day.

Rin was reluctant to explain the details to him. The most he got from her, some time later, was that Nagato had created a kind of bridge between the A.I.s, the med systems and the dead, spending a good part of his own life energy for that. It created a mix of remote action and energy healing, making it possible to regenerate tissues, to mend muscles and bones, to reactivate stopped hearts, to repair damaged brain cells.

It was what people would call a miracle.

⁂

When Iruka opened his eyes in the tent, hours later, it took him a couple seconds to remember where he was. The overwhelming memories of everything that had happened flowed back to him. His hand moved on its own to scratch his implant scar, like many times before.

It was not there.

Iruka sat up in his bunk, shocked, and opened his uniform to check.

Not there.

A movement to his left brought him out of his stupor. He saw a familiar mop of silver hair leaning on the side of his bed. Kakashi turned his head towards Iruka, with sleepy eyes, both the dark grey and the red one, and smiled at him.

“You’re awake.”

“The implant is gone.”

“I know. Hers too.” Kakashi tilted his head towards Oyone, still asleep in her bunk. 

Iruka looked at her, still trying to process the implications of the absence of that little wicked piece of metal and microtechnology.

_I’m free. I can go back to Konoha._

A single tear rolled down his cheek.

The bed sunk with the added weight of Kakashi. He sat behind Iruka and put his arms around him. Iruka leaned back into Kakashi’s steady presence, and cried in silence for a good while.

⁂

Oyone woke up when Iruka had already sobered. 

“I’ll be outside.” Kakashi kissed the top of Iruka’s head of loose hair, and squeezed him a last time before leaving the tent.

Iruka looked at Oyone as she put herself together and sat up clumsily on her bed.

“I’m sorry for what we did to you. For taking you here against your will, and getting you involved in this,” Iruka said, straight away. 

Oyone glared at him. “You’d better be.” Her glare lost steam, and she rubbed her face. “But perhaps I should thank you, after all. Did they remove yours too?” 

Iruka nodded.

“They told me Yuuna was safe. I still don’t understand it, Iruka. Why did they release us? Why did they heal me at all?” She looked at him, puzzlement on her face.

“I don’t know. It looks like we’re not slaves anymore. They are not trying to kill Kakashi anymore, either. I don’t know why.”

They both sat in silence in their beds, trying to find any sense at all in their situation.

“I can’t stop thinking about it. It doesn’t make sense, but I feel I… I was not just injured. Tell me, Iruka. I was dead, right?”

Iruka tried not to flinch under Oyone’s questioning stare. “Yes. I think I was dead too. I don’t know what happened.”

“This is far over my tolerance limit for unsettling things.” Oyone sighed, and rubbed her face again. “I feel dizzy. I think I need a bit more sleep.” She laid back on the bed. “I just want to go back home with Yuuna,” she mumbled before getting asleep again.

_Home for you now is Rain and your daughter,_ Iruka thought. He guessed Oyone wouldn’t leave this planet, even without the implant.

Iruka slowly put his boots on and gathered his meager strength to stand up from the bed and get out of the tent. Pakkun followed him in silence.

Kakashi was waiting for him, as promised; he had put his mask up again. It was raining, unsurprisingly. Kakashi moved to Iruka as soon as he got out of the tent and grabbed Iruka’s arm to steady him.

“Oyone went back to sleep. Too many things to process,” Iruka said, trying to smile.

“Good. Anko is back on the _Hound,_ sleeping. Let’s go back too, Iruka. I don’t want to stay here a second longer.”

Those words made Iruka find his smile back. “Yes, please.”

They turned away and started walking towards the ship. 

When they turned around the tent’s corner they saw Kakuzu standing by the _Hound’s_ ramp, with two armed guards. 

“Oh, shit, not again,” Iruka whispered, too tired to be scared of them.

"I can’t let you go in,” Kakuzu announced.

Kakashi tensed. Kakuzu raised a placating hand. “Hold your horses. It’s not what you think. An official communication from Konoha arrived this morning. A diplomat commission is on its way here. Treaty negotiations are about to begin. Your Hokage made a move and officially demanded the sensei back.”

“Good. Perfect. About time,” Kakashi replied, dryly. “Are we supposed to wait for them in this tent?”

“In fact, no, we’re escorting you back to the village and providing you accommodation.”

“You can keep your accommodation. I’d rather wait in my ship, away from your claws.”

“I would also love to get rid of you, but these are the orders.”

Kakashi activated his sharingan, getting ready to make a last stand. Kakuzu smiled coldly.

“Let them go, Kakuzu.” It was Yahiko’s voice; he was coming from the main tent they set up yesterday. Iruka’s heart jumped in his chest, before he remembered he no longer had the implant.

Iruka turned to look at Yahiko’s blank face, and felt a surge of rage. He started to walk towards Yahiko. 

“Iruka, no!” Kakashi grabbed his shoulder, trying to stop him. Iruka jerked Kakashi’s hand away and ignored his plea. He went on and stopped right in front of Yahiko, glaring at him.

“I will never forget how much you enjoyed pulling at my leash. I’ll make sure you never use one of those implants again on anyone.”

Yahiko looked at him, indifferent and sour. “I don’t know enjoyment. I just do what’s necessary while our country's still crying. You people from the Great Nation systems think you're the only ones who matter. You think you can put off death. But you can’t. Leave, and don’t ever come back.”

Yahiko turned away without waiting for Iruka’s answer, and left them all there.

Iruka watched him walk away, breathing fast. Then he bit his rage down and headed back to Kakashi.

Kakashi grabbed Iruka’s arm to make sure he wouldn’t go away again, and started walking up the _Hound’s_ ramp.

“Bye. I hope I’ll never see you all again,” he said to Kakuzu, curving his eyes with an obviously fake smile. 

“Same to you,” was Kakuzu’s unimpressed farewell.

Kakashi secured the _Hound’s_ hatch as soon as they were inside, and leaned back on the door with a huff, relieved to be safe back on his ship. “I thought you were scared of that guy. What got into you?”

Iruka shook his head. “Never mind.”

“I’m glad they didn’t get angry at you for talking back, but I was scared. Never do that again in front of me, okay?”

“Okay.” Iruka turned away to go through the ship corridor.

Kakashi caught the belt in Iruka’s uniform and made him stop. He slid his arms around Iruka’s waist . 

“And I confess that was sexy as hell. I love it when you scold people way over your rank. It will always make me hot.”

Iruka’s scowl changed into a small smile; he turned to face Kakashi. “You don’t seem to find that so hot when it’s you at the other end of my scolding.”

“I just pretend it bothers me, sensei. Your scolding always makes me hot.” Kakashi leaned over Iruka and kissed him hungrily. Iruka returned the kiss, feeling much better.

“Welcome aboard, guys. Sorry to spoil the mood, but I think it would be better to get the hell out of here.”

Iruka laughed. “Now you’re cursing too, Rin?”

“I guess I’m a bad influence,” Shizune said, playful.

“Cockblockers,” Kakashi said, with fake annoyance. “As always, you’re right, my angel. Let’s get the hell out of here!” With a last quick peck at Iruka’s lips, Kakashi bounced over the pilot’s seat. “Be my co-pilot, Iruka. I guess you’re a bit rusty after these months stranded here. Have some fun!”

Iruka laughed out loud for the first time since he arrived to Rain planet, and followed Kakashi to the command room.


	17. Where I stand

The treaty negotiations with Konoha’s delegation at Rain village hall had reached a dead end. Everything had gone more or less smoothly when discussing Konoha’s support for improving Rain’s basic infrastructures and institutions, but now they were discussing education, and they weren’t reaching an agreement.

Konoha councilman Utatane proposed that Rain children should be sent to Konoha academy until they graduated, given that there were no teachers in Rain with enough qualifications, that the school was very poorly equipped, and that life for the children was going to remain harsh while most of the planet was rebuilt. Akatsuki leaders didn’t like that proposal.

“How are we going to build this place up if the children are all taken to Konoha? And later on, would those grown-up children want to return to a place like this, after living in Konoha for years?” Yahiko’s voice had a tinge of despair. It was the first time Iruka could feel any kind of emotion coming from him—apart from when he killed him one week before, that is.

_ So you’re human, after all? Good to know. _

The negotiation was stuck. They had been arguing over this point for more than an hour, and the mood was getting more and more tense.

A solution took form in Iruka’s head. It was the kind of solution he wished he hadn’t thought of, but now Iruka couldn’t un-think it. He evaluated all the pros and cons, trying not to fidget in his seat, and came to a conclusion.

It would take a big toll on him, but he knew it was the right thing to do.

Iruka took a deep breath and raised his hand to ask for a turn in the heated discussion.

“Yes, Iruka?” Tsunade said, harshly.

Iruka cleared his throat. “I could stay.”

Yahiko and the others looked at him, puzzled. Iruka elaborated, feeling his face go red under everyone’s gaze. He touched the scar on his nose.

“I could stay and help rebuild. I could move here. Be Rain’s school teacher. Train local people interested in teaching. And come back to Konoha in, let’s say, about five years.”

“Why would you do that? Why would you want to stay?” Nagato looked baffled, like he couldn’t process the thought of someone helping them against their own interests, just because it was the right thing to do.

Iruka noticed Kakashi staring at him. He got the impression that Kakashi’s expression under the mask was one of hurt, but he wasn’t sure. He never was sure, with Kakashi.

“Yeah, well. Consider it a token of good will between Konoha and Rain, in the spirit of our brand-new treaty. I’ve come to be fond of these kids here, and to understand your situation. And I think it’s the best for everyone.”

Iruka looked at Tsunade with expectation, and relaxed a bit when she responded with a fond look and a sad smile, and nodded at him in appreciation of his offer. It was not a small offer, considering how much Iruka had suffered in this place. 

They all knew this was the final missing piece that settled their treaty.

“So our proposal is that Umino Iruka would relocate to Rain and be in charge of the education office, and fill the teacher position. Is this acceptable to you?”

Tsunade looked at Nagato, who exchanged some words with Konan and Yahiko. “Yes, it’s acceptable,” Nagato replied, with his unnerving metallic eyes fixed on Iruka. 

Tsunade put on a satisfied smile. “Good. With this, the main points of the agenda are closed. We’ll take a break, and this afternoon we’ll close the remaining details.” Tsunade stood up from the negotiation table, and everyone else followed her. 

It was done. Konoha and Rain were allies now.

⁂

After everything was said, most of the people dispersed, but some stayed in small groups, discussing the remaining minor details.

Iruka stayed with some of the diplomats and Rain village representatives, dealing with a bunch of administrative matters. He could see Kakashi casually lurking around, probably waiting for his turn to approach Iruka with some privacy. 

Finally, Iruka’s conversations came to an end. He bowed politely to the people in his small group, and they all went their separate ways.

Kakashi came close to Iruka, who was standing alone, organizing some documents. He looked like he was trying to come to terms with the big task in front of him.

“Did I really get into this by my own will? Sometimes I don’t know what gets into me,” Iruka said with a sheepish smile.

“Do you really mean to stay here?” Kakashi didn’t beat around the bush.

“Yes.”

“But what about your life in Konoha? Would you leave everything behind?”

“They will find some teacher to replace me. Naruto will be away with Jiraiya anyway. I will miss him, yes, but he will visit me when he wants to—and I can visit back, it’s not like I’m a prisoner anymore. I’ll have full access to the Hub. I’ll be in contact with everyone back home.”

“You can’t just leave like this.”

“I can’t? Says who?” Iruka looked at Kakashi, trying to figure out what was going on inside his head. Kakashi looked as emotionless as always. Iruka tried to keep his own emotions in check.

_ I still don’t know if he will miss me.  _

_ I can’t go like this anymore. I need to know where I stand with Kakashi. I need to know if he wants this to be casual, or something more. Casual is not enough for me anymore.  _

_ I can’t go back to where we were before my life went upside-down. If this is one-sided I’d rather stop seeing Kakashi at all. _

Iruka was ready to move on, if he needed to. It would hurt, but he’d learnt to live with pain.

Iruka turned to one side. He didn’t have the courage to look into Kakashi’s eyes while saying the things he was going to say, while opening his heart to him, raw and exposed for a fatal blow; he was too wary of what he would see in Kakashi’s eyes after that.

“Kakashi, I need you to listen to me. I have to tell you some things that have been burning me inside for a while before all this Rain craziness started. I haven’t been fair to you. I haven’t been clear about my feelings.”

Iruka paused, trying to order his thoughts before speaking the words that would change it all between Kakashi and him. There was no going back now—he decided to dive into it, with all its consequences.

”I love you. I should have told you long ago. But I think you don’t love me back. So I kept my feelings to myself. I was scared that you would run away if I told you how I felt. That I wanted more.” 

Iruka waited for Kakashi’s answer, with his heart in his throat.

There was no answer. 

_ Ah, so what I feared was true after all.  _

Iruka felt the last sorry bits of his foolish hopes crumble. He tried to keep calm.

“I’m not coming back, Kakashi, not for a long time. Moving on will be easier this way. I don’t think you’ll miss me for too long.”

Kakashi finally spoke, with a rough voice, like his throat was raw.

“But I will.”

Iruka turned around and looked at Kakashi’s face, shocked. Kakashi was looking at the floor, bangs of his wild silver hair falling over his face, another layer of concealment added to the many ones he hid behind.

“What?” Iruka said.

Kakashi moved closer, still not looking up.

“Iruka, I thought at this point you would know. I thought I didn’t have to say it. But I was wrong.”

Kakashi raised a hand and removed his mask, before looking up into Iruka’s eyes. He looked distressed.

“I’m not good at expressing my feelings. I haven’t been fair to you, too.”

Kakashi leaned closer to a stunned Iruka, cupping the back of his head gently, and pulled him into a heartfelt kiss. He broke the kiss for a moment to whisper some words, with closed eyes.

“I love you too. I have loved you for a while now. You’re the one.”

Iruka felt like his heart was too big for his chest. 

“You sneaky bastard. You let me think—”

“How could you not know? Do you think I would let anyone get so close to me as you got?”

Kakashi looked at him with a much more relaxed expression.

“Do you think I go around rescuing everyone like this?”

Iruka couldn’t help but chuckle, adrenaline running wildly through his veins. “Ah, now you brag about rescuing me? I think I took some hits, myself.”

“Maa, you hurt me. Do you know how difficult it was to find you? To break Akatsuki’s blockade? Now I owe several favors to Anko and Tenzou. They will never let me forget it.”

Iruka laughed openly now. He hugged Kakashi’s waist and lifted him from the floor with pure joy, spinning them both around like they were children. Kakashi laughed too, content in Iruka’s arms.

“What are they doing? Is this some Konoha custom?” Nagato asked Tsunade, looking at them from the other side of the room, confused.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow and smirked at them. “Not really, but I wouldn’t mind.”  _ Those two damn well deserve some joy after all they’ve been through, _ she thought. _ And they make a really nice sight for sore eyes. _

Tsunade made a mental note to assign Kakashi to the Rain sector star fleet detachment, but not without making him beg a little for it. She didn’t want the brat to think she had gone soft on him.

She smiled fondly and felt proud of her Konoha people again, as she watched Anko and Yamato join Iruka and Kakashi’s small celebration. Her smile twitched a bit when Anko pinched Iruka’s ass, making him jump, while Kakashi said something that made Yamato flush and raise his voice for an annoyed remark.

_ And that is why I never bring them on diplomatic missions. _ She chuckled and left to her room to get ready for the formal dinner that would close the treaty negotiations for good.


	18. Hiding Moon

Tsunade gave everyone a week off after the treaty was signed. Kakashi and Iruka made good use of that time, travelling again to the Hiding Moon station and reenacting part of their first visit so many years ago.

Not that they had waited until reaching Hiding Moon to devour each other. Two weeks before, right after the _Hound_ was allowed to leave Rain’s surface, Kakashi and Iruka finally were able to spend some time together. The _ Hound _had orbited Rain planet for a couple of days, waiting for Konoha’s diplomatic commission cruiser to arrive in Rain system for the treaty negotiations.

Anko had woken up as soon as the _ Hound _reached its orbit. She came out of her cabin with bed hair, joined Kakashi and Iruka in the control room, and proceeded to properly greet Iruka, as she had threatened to do in Rain village. Kakashi looked over Anko’s hugs and shoves with a tight expression—”Are you jealous, captain?” Anko had teased Kakashi. “Don’t worry, I’ll give him back to you in no time. Let me just squeeze him a little more.”

Iruka laughed, even if he feared a bit for his ribs, and he knew he would sport a few bruise marks to remind him of Anko’s tough love in the following days. “I missed you too, Anko. Now let me go, please. I’d like to keep all my pieces together.”

Anko ruffled Iruka’s ponytail, and let him go. “There. All yours, Kakashi! I’ll be in my bunk and let you two catch up. Don’t leave stains around!”

“Oh, God, Anko.” Iruka rolled his eyes. Anko just gave him a wide smirk and left.

⁂

Kakashi and Iruka were able to catch up and did in fact leave some evidence, but only in Iruka’s cabin, where they spent a good part of their waiting time. Anko was considerate enough to not to disturb them during those few precious hours together.

Iruka still felt a bit strange after the experience of dying and being brought back by Nagato. Luckily, he’d been dead for a very short time, and seemingly that was a decisive factor for how much of oneself was lost in the process. He also had still to fully recover from the implant removal surgery. Even if he was not at his best physically, he felt better than ever in the previous six months.

When Tsunade and Konoha’s people finally got there, Iruka joined the negotiators as Tsunade’s aid. Anko and Kakashi were appointed as bodyguards.

Iruka stiffened when Tsunade put her hands on his shoulders. “We were worried for you, sensei. I’m glad you’re okay. I’m sorry we couldn’t do something sooner.”

Tsunade let Iruka go and turned to Kakashi, frowning. “You. I should scold you, brat. You were this close to causing an international incident.” She huffed and her expression softened. “But extra-officially, I have to thank you. You saved Iruka-sensei when my hands were tied. Don’t get too proud of this. I will deny I said this. But thank you, Kakashi.” She nodded at him, and went on her way, with her retinue. Kakashi released the breath he was holding.

Yamato was part of Tsunade’s group. He walked to them with his soft smile.

“Tenzou! It’s nice to see you doing something useful, for once,” Kakashi greeted him, squeezing his shoulder. Yamato ignored Kakashi’s barb, as usual, and greeted them both.

“I’m happy to see you too, senpai. And in one piece, for once.” He turned to Iruka. “Iruka-sensei, I’m glad you’re safe back. I’m sorry I couldn’t help more.”

“Oh no, you did more than enough, Kakashi told me how much you helped. I’ll always be in debt to you. Thank you so much.” Iruka bowed formally, making Yamato blush and raise his hands to try to stop Iruka, embarrassed. 

Iruka really meant it. Without Yamato, Kakashi probably would have never been able to find the _ Ichiraku, _ and Iruka would still be rotting in Rain village, or dead already by one of Yahiko’s assaults. 

“Don’t say these things to Yamato, or his head will get so big his happuri makes it burst,” Anko teased, walking to them. She threw an arm around Yamato’s waist.

“Nice to see you’re safe too, Anko.” Apparently Yamato was far too used to his colleagues’ puns and he automatically filtered them out.

Anko winked at Yamato and hooked her arm with his to pull him away towards the food table. “Come with me, I’m hungry. I have to tell you everything. It has been a messy mission, you won’t believe some of the things we’ve seen. Oh, I met an interesting guy down there, I’m dying to tell you. His name is Kisame, and he has amazing stamina, and arms like tree trunks—”

Kakashi and Iruka didn’t see Yamato’s face as Anko dragged him away with her, but they could imagine his ever-suffering expression. They shared a knowing look and a chuckle.

⁂

The treaty negotiations had been hard, but successful. In the following days, at their Hiding Moon retreat, Kakashi pampered Iruka and made sure he ate and rested as much as possible, and they also made up for all the lonely nights since Iruka was kidnapped. They broke all their previous records of amazing sex; perhaps it was because now they were aware of their shared feelings, perhaps it was just that practice makes perfect. Whatever the reason, it was perfect enough to make Iruka feel something dangerously similar to happiness.

During those days they took their time to talk, too. Relaxing in their bed, or in the private hot spring bath, under the starry night, they told each other their parts of the story since Iruka’s ship got lost. Kakashi knew Iruka was keeping large fragments of his worst moments in Rain to himself, but Kakashi didn’t push him. Iruka would tell when he was ready.

“When you came to Rain I was so happy to see you in that white room, Kakashi. It was the first real good moment since forever.”

“I wanted to blow that damned screen in a million pieces. I wanted to be with you so bad, Iruka.”

“I haven’t really thanked you for coming to get me out of there, have I?”

Kakashi cupped Iruka’s face in his hand and got lost into his brown eyes.

“You don’t need to thank me, Iruka. I would go to the end of the galaxy for you.”

“I know.”

“Yes, now you know. I’m still amazed that you didn’t know before.”

Iruka kissed Kakashi. “I was dumb. You were too good to be true. But that’s the past. I’m not letting you go now.”

They didn’t talk anymore for a while. They let their bodies take the lead.

⁂

Iruka had been staring at Kakashi from the other side of their private bath section, pleasant hot water up until their chins.

“What is it?” Kakashi said after a while, curious.

“There’s something nagging at me. You said you offered a ransom for me, but Tsunade never mentioned it. You said you had your ways to get the money. What would you have done if Akatsuki had accepted the ransom?”

Kakashi considered trying to evade the question, but he had recently started feeling better when he told Iruka the truth. It was a funny new feeling for him.

“You know I’m the last member of the Hatake family. I’m officially the clan head. The title comes with the right to manage the family fortune.”

Iruka took an instant to process the information. “Wait. Are you saying you’re rich? Are you saying you would have spent your fortune to rescue me?”

Kakashi smiled his deceiving sweet and innocent smile. Just this time it was not fake at all. “That’s what money is for, Iruka. For the things that really matter. If it got you out of that hell I would’ve spent it all.” 

Iruka’s heart swelled in his chest. “You’re too much, Kakashi. I don’t know if I want to scold you or to eat you whole.”

“I am very much in favor of option B. Would you eat me whole, Iruka?” Kakashi’s voice got much more intimate, and he waded through the water to get close to Iruka, with an innocent smile, completely fake this time. Iruka happily indulged him.

⁂

The week at Hidden Moon came to its end. Iruka tried to keep his good mood, but every time he thought of going back to Rain and being away from Kakashi, he felt depressed.

They were at the asteroid’s spaceport, waiting for the liner ship that would take them back to Rain system, when Kakashi noticed Iruka’s failed attempts to look carefree. Kakashi was not happy to part with Iruka, either. Funny—he’d never cared too much about these things before. Knowing that Iruka would be there when he felt the need to see him used to be enough for Kakashi. It wasn’t anymore.

Kakashi tried to make Iruka feel better. “You’re not going to be alone in Rain, Iruka. I’ll be around. There’s a joint Rain-Konoha guard brigade, Tsunade assigned me to it. I’ll not always be on Rain’s surface, but I’ll be there quite often.”

Iruka tried to put on a brave face. “I know. It’s just that I wish we could stay like this together.” He flushed. “You’ll think I’m silly, but to me this felt like a honeymoon. I was happy here. I’m not used to being happy, you know?”

Kakashi didn’t laugh nor reply with a joke. “Well. Me too.”

Iruka’s heart rate sped up. It was not very often that Kakashi said things like this and let himself open. “I don’t want this to end."

“It will not end.” Kakashi grabbed Iruka’s hand and squeezed it. “We’ll make it work, Iruka. We’ll go through this; and when your part of the deal is done and you can go back to Konoha, I’ll be there as well.”

“Sounds like a deal.” Iruka smiled, sheepish.

“It is.” Kakashi sounded convinced. 

Iruka squeezed Kakashi’s hand back and felt much better. They would go through this the best way they could, it was all they could do. He felt hope for the future to come.


	19. Away from home

After the treaty negotiations were finished, Nagato stepped down from his position as Akatsuki's main leader. Konan was designated as his successor. Nagato’s health was delicate after the part he played at the end of Iruka’s escape attempt; taking people back from death had a price, a very high one. He’d been sure it would cost him his life. He was lucky enough to have survived, but he would never recover totally. 

“It’s alright. This is how it has to be,” Nagato told Konan and Yahiko during one of their visits, his voice tired, his cheeks even more sunken than usual. He looked like he’d aged twenty years in the last days. 

The three Akatsuki leaders sat at the covered balcony of Nagato’s home. It had a view over most of Rain village and its surroundings. The rain didn’t allow them to see very far, but this was the nicest view Rain village could provide.

“Will you be okay, Konan? Are you feeling right?” Nagato asked.

Konan smiled a bit. “Yes, Nagato. I think I’m starting to understand Yahiko a lot better.”

Yahiko took her hand and squeezed it. “It can be hard at the beginning. It will get better.”

Konan squeezed Yahiko’s hand back. “Forgive me for the way I treated you all this time. For calling you an empty shell. You’re not.”

“Every person who goes through _ Rinne Tensei _ comes out differently. Some people leave behind more than others.” Nagato looked at Yahiko. “I’m sorry you lost more than most.”

“There’s nothing to forgive.” Yahiko smiled, a very uncommon expression on him. “I’m here with my precious people.”

They sat in silence contemplating the village for a while. Nagato broke the silence.

“Things are going to change for Rain. The clouds are opening. The sun will finally shine over us.”

“I will see to it,” Konan said, and took Nagato’s hand too.

The three lifelong friends looked at the village, feeling hope for their land for the first time.

⁂

Iruka decided to go back to Konoha for a couple weeks before he started to work at Rain village for good.

His inner workaholic was frowning on that decision, because he had too much work to do before the academic year in Rain would start, and he had just come back from his week at Hidden Moon with Kakashi. However, this trip was something he had to do for his own mental health.

Just knowing that he was free to go back to Konoha wouldn’t do, he had to see it with his own eyes.

After that, he would commit to Rain and his people for several years and do his best; this trip would allow him to move on into that huge task with a clean state of mind, he hoped, but first he had some loose ends to take care of in Konoha, including seeing Naruto before leaving him again.

What he didn’t expect was that the thought of leaving Konoha, once he was back, would be so hard. Everything inside him was screaming at him to stay. 

He walked through Konoha’s busy streets, through the training fields in the forest outskirts. He ate ramen with Naruto at Ichiraku, and visited his kids at the Academy. He did all those little things he had missed so much when he was a slave in Rain village. Every time he remembered that he would have to leave for Rain’s grayness in a few days, his mood fell to the floor.

The reunion with Naruto had been the best part of the whole trip, that was no surprise. Almost before Iruka set foot on Konoha’s surface, descending from the liner spaceship, Naruto had tackled him and hugged the air out of Iruka’s lungs, crying like a child. Well, he _ was _ a child—he was only fourteen, after all. 

“Don’t do that ever again, Iruka. I thought you were dead. I’m so glad you’re safe.”

“I know, Naruto, and I am so sorry,” Iruka said, caressing Naruto’s sunny hair and hugging him hard, with tears in his eyes too. 

They had time to catch up after that, to talk for hours and spend some nice time together. Naruto stayed at Iruka’s flat for some days. He was leaving Konoha too, to go to a secret training facility with his new sensei, Jiraiya. Iruka was there to help Naruto pack for the next months, to see him off on his departure day, and to kiss him goodbye and tell his precious kid he loved him. Naruto was sad to leave Iruka, but also excited for his new adventure.

“I’ll send you letters, sensei! Don’t worry, I’ll be okay. Take care of yourself on Rain planet!”

Iruka laughed. “Letters, Naruto? That’s great! You know I love old-fashioned letters.” Iruka thought back to the letter he wrote to Naruto that fateful day half a year ago when he was sure he was going to die stranded in Tea sector. So many things had happened since then, it was like another life. 

Iruka was glad that the letter was still unused and kept safe in the _ Ichiraku _.

Naruto went away, and Iruka went on preparing for his own departure from Konoha.

⁂

The day before the dreaded date of the trip back to Rain arrived. 

There were moments in the past two weeks when Iruka seriously considered revoking his commitment with Rain and staying in Konoha—yet those moments lasted only seconds. Iruka would die before putting Konoha’s treaty at risk just because of his selfish wish to stay in Konoha.

He’d already made the arrangements to leave his apartment for someone else to rent. He’d cancelled all his supply contracts and subscriptions and paid all his pending fees. He’d helped to recruit his substitute in Konoha’s star fleet academy, given his plants to friends and said his goodbyes, sent his few bigger belongings to a storage unit, and paid it for the next year. The logistic matters had been all taken care of. 

Now he was trying to pack for the trip, feeling the full weight of his decision. _ What do you pack for five years away from home?, _ he wondered with dismay.

The comm console in his room blipped with the signal of an incoming call. He didn’t feel like talking to anyone right now. ‘Inter-system call’, the indicator said.

_ A message from Rain? _Something important must have happened.

Iruka connected the holo and accepted the transmission, bracing himself for shocking news.

Oyone’s face filled a small part of the holo space. The rest was filled with many small faces that lightened up when they saw Iruka’s image on their side of the call. They all started to talk animatedly, stretching their necks to be seen in the holo.

“Iruka-sensei!,” nineteen child voices repeated.

“Are you okay?”

“When are you coming back?”

“Will you bring us anything from Konoha?”

“It’s been raining a lot here. Will you make us run laps in the mud again?”

“We’re so bored, Iruka-sensei. Oyone-sensei is not teaching us the same things as you! She keeps making us read the lessons we already did before you left.”

Iruka could see Oyone laughing at her impossibility to say anything amongst all the children’s excited babbling.

That was the exact moment Iruka stopped dreading his return to Rain, and the restless nagging part inside him settled with the knowledge that everything would be okay.

⁂

The next day came, everything was ready for Iruka’s trip. Kakashi was waiting for him inside the _Hound_ to take them both to their new life in Rain. 

Iruka went up the _ Hound’s _ ramp, walked through the corridors to the control room, and sat in the co-pilot seat again, beside Kakashi.

“Good morning, sensei. Ready to go back to take care of Rain’s children?” Kakashi said, smiling at him, and put his navigation helmet on. 

Iruka smiled back and looked at the front.

“Ready for good.” 

They left Konoha behind and jumped beautifully into light speed. 


End file.
